


Hot Mess

by Devilinureye



Category: Justice League vs. Teen Titans (2016), Teen Titans (Comics), Teen Titans - All Media Types, Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Idiots in Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-07-27 10:47:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 169,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20044735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Devilinureye/pseuds/Devilinureye
Summary: Raven was a good girl, always helping anyone who needed it, always doing her duties, always trying not to get into trouble... That, until she found the reason for her mess...She was a such hot mess with him nowHigh School AU





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All this love is worth a mess

**Current days**

You can say that fate is in the hands of the devil, or of God... You can say that Destinies control the life of every person in the world or you can say that everything is just a stupid coincidence...

You can tell that destiny doesn't exist... It could be the fault of everything in chance and in coincidence or even in the universe and its weird ways of working...

But Raven was absolutely 100% sure that someone controlled it all... She was proof that the Destinies controlled the line of her life in a complete joke, or devil and God were sitting throwing dice to decide what would be the next thing that she would do, or that the universe made a point of remembering she was a contradiction...

The universe and his weird ways of working... Raven always kept this in mind after those two years. Some people came with the birthmark for the contradiction and she was one of those people...

You can say that hatred and love go hand in hand, you can say that the line between them is thin enough for them to shift aside at the slightest move. You may believe that people are like giant magnets always attracting their opposites... Raven used to not believe this, but again the universe decided to remember that it was a contradiction...

Raven was the opposite of Damian,  
Damian was totally the opposite of Raven  
Did they hate each other? Perhaps  
But like giant magnets, they were attracted unnoticed, positive and negative having gravitational force and destiny in their favor.

Is that what you would call a romantic comedy cliche? Maybe... Maybe a little bit of 10 Things I Hate About You mixed a little Pride And Prejudice, and a dash of some romantic film starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere that some aunt or your own mother loves to watch!

This was the story that Raven and Damian lived... It was what she liked to think. It's the kind of love you expect to find in high school, right? That love movie where the good girl hates enough to love the bad guy.

No, Raven didn't want this love... She wanted to hate Damian with all her heart and he wanted to annoy her as much as he could.

But the universe doesn't stop, neither the Destinies, nor the coincidences, all of them (or none of them) are always working in their strange ways... And as you read this, giant magnets like Raven and Damian are attracting and balancing love and hate change places.

***********

Raven opened her eyes slowly as the lights streamed through the bedroom window. Her head was in a mess and she was trying put everything in order about what had happened the night before and where she was while her eyes became accustomed to the light that shone brightly outside, showing that the hot day was already shining.

Raven was a complete mess and she was beginning to remember the motive...

The same motive that had been her mess at all other times.

Damian Wayne... Son of billionaire Bruce Wayne and currently Raven's problematic boyfriend.

Raven sat on the hotel bed, staring at the mess that was spreading all around. She was alone now, her clothes were lying on the floor and she wore only a bra. Somewhere in her head, she wondered where Damian might be, remembered very well that she had fallen asleep in his arms, but now he wasn't there, though his backpack was thrown exactly in the same place he had left the night before. Her head twisted 360 °, remembering what had happened, and her conscience told her that she needed to get dressed quickly while looking for her phone in the middle of the things lying on the side of the bed, she had to warn her aunt that she is okay and that she would be back for an hour... She just didn't know when...

Fuck, there were at least 50 messages from her aunt asking her where she was and saying she would call the police... 

All Raven DIDN'T need now was a police car behind her for having run away from home for a summer holiday ending with her troublesome boyfriend.

Oh fuck, she ran away from home in the middle of the night and didn't say anything to anyone... She was an endless mess with this boy, but she couldn't leave, he was the spice in her life that she always drove away for fear... And she loved him, otherwise she hadn't done what she did that night.

Going back to the past, Raven would never imagine herself in this situation... Sleeping with a trouble guy at a roadside hotel, traveling the country on a motorcycle, leaving every bit of her consciousness behind while advancing on the lonely roads...

This was crazy to who she was... Oh fuck, she was a such hot mess


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm such a hot mess with you

**2 years ago**

Raven was never the kind of holy and pure girl, but she tried hard enough to be at least good... She studied all day, helped her aunt whenever possible, it wasn't too hard. Raven always tried to stay in line and fulfill her duties as the good girl she could be, being the daughter of who she was. And she was good at it, trying to be good.

Damian was different from her, but not much. The son of the Gotham billionaire was what you could call a problem before he could even open his mouth and say something... He had a huge danger sign on top of his head and the attitude he kept, just proved that. And he didn't try hard to prove otherwise... Damian got into fights more than he could count, did what he wanted and didn't care about the consequences ... And he was good at it, not being the good boy.

Raven came from a family in the least problematic .. Her mother was always a rebel, the total opposite of Raven. She ran away from home, got involved with things she shouldn't have, met Raven's father and eventually became pregnant and still a few years later, leaving Raven with Aunt Alice and disappearing into the world. Angela loved Raven, she knew it, but she wasn't good at taking care of a child, and Alice took care of Raven as if it were her own daughter for the long years that followed... Raven never knew her father, but she knew he wasn't good...

Damian came from distant lands... Created far from society, the boy was always treated like a prince who had everything he wanted and when he wanted. His mother made a point of making it clear that he would one day dominate everything, that he would own the world but that he would have to learn how to fight for it... At a young age, Damian knew how to kill a person with two finger movements and was a selfish and arrogant little boy. One day, his mother just handed him over to his father and said that he should fulfill his fatherly role. Damian went on to live in a culture he didn't know, with rules he didn't know and an absent father and adoptive siblings whom he, deep down, was envious of. Damian had to unlearn everything his mother once taught, but he couldn't keep himself out of the mess... Damian's mother was crazy, and he knew she wasn't good...

Two different avatars of the same coin. Both leave at a certain age for their mothers, both seeking to fit into their place in their respective world, but at the same time, so different... Raven was peace and calm, Damian was war and agitation...

You could hear the Fates laughing when fate made two very different lines intersect.

Raven and all her peace and responsibility were heavily shaken when he came into her life. Initially, he drew her terribly seriously. She felt so affected and so angry that she could swear that one day she would lose her temper and would give a nice punch to his face... He deserved for every time he opened that smile with his perfect white teeth. He wasn't good, on the contrary, he was always turning the class into a show around him or else trying to position himself as the school tough guy and messing up...

"God he was SO annoying..." It was the only thing Raven thought when he opened his mouth in the classroom, or she just rolled her eyes when she heard someone talk about how fucking amazing he was, or how the girls sighed when the Wayne's most annoying and extremely boring little fellow walked the halls...

Not that he really paid attention to them, but... It irritated Raven in a way she couldn't control... He was just a normal boy, with two emeralds in his eyes, nice tanned skin and a boyish bad attitude... Raven had seen a bunch of such kids before and could almost bet her dad was just like that...

Raven's odd blue-violet eyes shook Damian's fortress the first time he saw them as he entered the room. But the longer he spent with her and saw how different she was from him and all the other people he knew, the more she took his peace from him. She had a calm voice and an annoying way of always being right that Damian just wanted to hit his head repeatedly on the wall when he saw those big eyes marked by a black outline entering the class.

"God she was SO annoying..." was the only thing that came into his head when she rolled her eyes when he said something. Maybe she didn't know he watched her every fucking time she did it, but for some stupid reason his eyes flicked around the room looking for her when he said something just to see her turn them in her sockets... As annoying as the good and studious girl that she was or how she simply didn't pay attention to any boy there, and especially to him...

Not that she had much attention or was the most wanted girl of the school, but he heard comments and some of his quarrels derived from comments about her... Sometimes he didn't even know why he was fighting, but something annoyed him about it and he always found himself punching some guy and it was something he couldn't control... She was just a straight-up girl with strange violet eyes(or blue? He couldn't tell), a skin white as snow and with a mysterious witch pose... Damian was sure he had seen a lot like her in Gotham... And he could almost bet that his mother tried to pass as a girl so innocent to seduce his father... He knew these innocent girls were the worst.

They were like two sides of the same coin...

And here they were, another day hating each other between glances in the refectory while shouts and lively conversations took place around them... Not too far from each other, but with a tension they couldn't handle.

\- "This passion for the Wayne boy is still going to kill you, Raven..." - Garfield grunted after what seemed like the thousandth time she'd rolled her eyes at the boy in the refectory as usual, drawing attention and being the dumb playboy he was.

Raven wasn't full of friends, but the few she had were enough for her... And Garfield Logan, the boy with green hair and unnecessary jokes, was one of them.

\- "What? No... No passion at all... Ew..."

\- "Ew? I would not say that..."

\- "Shut up..."

\- "So why do you two get so involved with each other in class? This is love disguised as hate!"

\- "Because he's an idiot???" - Raven arched his eyebrow - "He always interrupts me to say stupid things..."

\- "Hmmm..."

\- "And you're confusing things... I hate him... Love and Hate are two totally different feelings of each other"

\- "The line that divides love and hate is very thin, Raven... Mumford & Sons said..."

\- "In fact the song said 'Tonight I can't tell if it's love or hate. How smooth they are and quick to interchange', but I understood what you mean and you're wrong..."

\- "I don't think so... You never talked to him other than in discussions in the class and you roll your eyes almost every time he talks... You hate him because you know that you like him..."

\- "And you have to stop reading many novels on the internet, Garfield." - Raven slammed the book into his head. - "Look at him, do you honestly think he's someone for me...?"

\- "Actually I don't know who it could be to you since you dumped me..."

\- "I never 'dumped you', Garfield... We've never had anything for me to 'dumped' anything with you... Stop being an idiot..." - Raven grimaced 

\- "But we could have had... If you didn't have a heart of ice"

\- "You flirt with Tara, Bette, and all the girls at school! Please, Garfield, don't say 'work' with me... I'm glad we're friends" - Raven grunted, holding back a laugh - "And I don't know why we're talking about it..."

\- Nothing special ... - Garfield made a little pout - I just think it's weird that you're not a normal girl ...

\- What? I'm sorry what do you mean about "normal girl"?

\- "I don't know? Maybe go out with other girls, go to malls and buy clothes, go out with boys, fall in love, go to parties, kiss, lose virginity... Normal things of adolescence..."

\- "Hm... Go to the mall? It's not important, parties? It's not it important, boys? It's not important, hanging out with friends? I go out with Rose sometimes and you know it, fall in love? not important, and sex? Why is this the pinnacle of importance for boys? it's not a big deal, it's just... sex... It's not like we'd die if we didn't do it in our teens..."

\- "Okay, you're weird and you talk like a grumpy 90 year old woman... But I like you..." - Raven laughed, rolling her eyes - "But... You've been at this school for two years now and I never saw you like anyone..."

\- "I have more important things to do..." - Raven grinned cynically - "You guys give a lot of headaches for us girls..." - Garfield rolled his eyes - "And I like you and I like Rose... You talk like if I had no one and was a lonely lady..."

\- "You always shrug off the subject... Like you're afraid!" - Garfield raised his eyebrows as if he'd discovered the cancer cure - "You're afraid, Raven..."

\- "Okay, you've gone crazy..."

\- "No, no... I've discovered your secret, Raven... You're afraid of something..." - Garfield bent over the table looking deep in Raven's eyes - "What are you afraid of, Raven? You never do things that a 17-year-old girl would do... Are you afraid to let people approach you or are you afraid to let someone down?"

\- "Excuse me? I'm not afraid of anything..." - Raven looked at the boy for a few seconds and then turned her attention to the book she read again... - "You're crazy and you're talking nonsense... You have no background what you're saying..."

\- "You know I'm right, Raven... Why don't you act like some other girl?" - Raven rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair without answering Garfield as she heard Damian's annoying voice from across the refectory.

\- "It will not help me to say that I'm not afraid of anything, so I'll just ignore you and read my book..." - Raven grunted still with her eyes locked on the page, she read the same passage for the sixth time, but couldn't focus.

Anyway, Hammelet seemed more interesting than hearing Garfield tell his bullshit or once again, Damian Wayne wrapped himself in some stupid confusion as she sank into her thoughts, about the question Garfield had asked.

What was she really afraid of?

\- "That's right! Run away to the reality of the books, Raven Roth... That's exactly what the right people do, they run away..." - Garfield mocked. 

It was at times like these that Raven really wondered how she had become friends with Garfield... But she didn't question, he was that older brother she didn't have and was there for both laughter and a friend's shoulder...

And in the first few days at school, Raven really needed a friend's shoulder...

\- "You don't have Tara Markov to fill up with your foolish flirtations? Or I don't know... Bette Kane?"

\- "You're acting like I said, running away from the subject and evasively responding..."

\- "I said, Gar... I'm not running away... It's just stupid that's all you're saying... It's not law that every girl is like this..." - Raven nodded at the group of girls sitting on the table near where Damian was - "It doesn't come on our programming to be that way"

\- "You're going to keep on running, and you're going to keep feeding my suspicions that you're falling for the unbearable brat..."

\- "Shut up so I can continue being your friend, Gar..."

\- "You will remain my friend, Raven... Or else you will have to bear Rose alone..."

\- "Oh... You have a point..."

\- "Speaking of the devil... Where is she?"

\- "Well, you know... Rose is the feminine version and less annoying than the unbearable richness... So she must be getting some confusion out there..." - Raven mumbled without looking at the boy in front of her, book page.

\- "Hmmm... So, what are you doing friday night?"

\- "Garfield, I'm not going to go out with you..." - She raised her eyebrows at him. - "I said I'm not Tara, not Bette, let me alone, I'm not that little girls who fall for what you say..."

\- "Hey... Calm down, ice heart girl..."

\- "LOL very funny..."

\- "I'm not inviting you to a date..."

\- "So what you want to know about my boring and full of school work Friday"

\- "Well..." - Garfield raised an eyebrow and looked quickly at the other table before lowering his voice - "There are rumors running around the school that Wayne's brother is in town and they're having a party..."

\- "Oh no no no... No fucking way, okay...? No need to bother inviting me, I will not go..."

\- "Then I'll make sure you're running away..."

\- "What? No!" - Raven bent over the table, closing the book she read closely minutes before, her voice as low as Garfield's - "Where did you get this from? I have no reason to run away from this jerk... I just... I'm not going to party with him..."

\- "Well, you didn't let me finish... And I told you to go to his brother's party... Not with him..."

\- "You... You understand what I mean..."

\- "Give me three good reasons why you shouldn't go with me and maybe I understand" - Raven took a deep breath and rolled her eyes - "Or else I'll understand that you're a fearful chicken that's afraid of the little ball of hate called Damian Wayne."

\- "First, I have things to do... Second, I don't go to teen parties, too much alcohol and a lot of irresponsibility... Not my favorite environment... And third, you can understand what you want, I don't care..."

\- "These three reasons are horrible, Raven... You didn't convince me..."

\- "It's the three reasons I have... I'm not going, Gar, it's no use you insist..."

\- "Well... Your new name is going to be Chicken Roth... You're running away like a frightened little chicken..."

\- "I said I have things to do, Garfield..."

\- "Like....?"

\- "Schoolwork, homework... Did you know that I have to finish an essay about Hammelet? I'm not even in the middle..."

\- "In the middle of the night? You're the best student in the class, Raven... You probably already have the grades you need to get in next year, and we're still in the middle of the semester!"

\- "I intend to continue being the best student..."

\- "Rose will love knowing you're running away from troublesome Wayne..."

\- "I'm not running away..."

\- "Rae... Look at me..." - Raven rolled her eyes and looked at the boy - "Do you hate him? Great... I don't believe it, but okay..."

\- "Go to the point, Garfield..."

\- "You can't be so anti-social! Okay, I know you like your... Bubble of weirdness... but socializing is good..."

\- "I'm not antisocial, Garfield... I'm a member of the student body, remember?" - She looked incredulous at him

\- "Okay... So I'll keep in mind that you're running away from Damian..." 

\- "Oh Garfield Logan, when you freak out about something you're so annoying! Why do you make such a big deal that I'm not going to fucking party when you're probably going with some stupid girl who falls into your conversation or who's dying for it and will leave me alone?"

\- "Prove that you don't care about Damian and his taunts..."

\- "Prove to whom Garfield? Honestly, this talk does not make sense at all..."

\- "Everyone at school is saying that you and Damian are making out... It's not just me that's saying this... Everyone sees the looks that you exchange and look... Big sexual tension energy between you both..."

\- "What? That doesn't make sense... Like, I hate him... I'd probably punch him in the face... And... Has no looks at all, you're crazy..."

\- "His brother studies at the university and lives on the roof of a building... It's a party that will have people killing themselves to be invited, and Daddy was invited and can bring escorts... You know that huge T-shaped building on an island? It's his... Do you really want to miss a party in that building? You can't be so weird..." - He raised a brow with a smile on his lips - "If you go and just don't give a damn about Damian Thomas Wayne out of the school environment, in a place where several people from school are, you will dispel these rumors..."

\- "Garfield, you're mirroring your needs and your desires in me... No, I have no desire to go to one of those parties and no, I wouldn't go to a party of this boy nor tied and yes, I really and truly want to lose a party in that building with a ridiculous T-shape and I honestly don't give two fucks if his brother or the pope who's giving this party..." - Raven took a deep breath - " I don't care what people are saying... Soon they get another rumor to spread... I don't have to prove anything to anyone..."

This is honestly what she wanted to believe.

\- "Raven... Please..."

\- "Look... If you really want to go to this party, you can go without worrying about me... I don't like those places full and with loud music... I'll be fine... And you should invite Tara to go with you before the boy wonder invite... And invite Rose too... She'll love the idea of baptizing the drinks and you know she's almost the number one fan of that bastard's brothers..."

\- "Wait... Do you think he and Tara...?"

\- "I don't know, Gar... It's just a guess... You should invite her, that's all... All this time here trying to convince me could be used to call a girl to go with you... And a girl, understand for 'Tara Markov'" - That seems to have caught the alertness of attention in the green-haired boy's brain, he was silent for a few seconds before rising and storming through the refectory, leaving Raven finally at peace with her book.

Garfield wasn't a bad person, sure that his jokes were unnecessary and he had a certain need to always be the center of attention and he got it (being the adopted son of a famous actress, wasn't very difficult) and ended up putting Raven in the middle of some confusion and rumors of it, but he was a good friend and Raven knew he would be there for her if she needed it.

Garfield Logan was almost like a fake brother to her... And she liked that.

She laughed, rolled her eyes, staring at the green blur he'd become until she noticed another pair of green eyes staring at her. She could feel this pair of eyes every single time and be sure who was, but she hated knowing it because she didn't know where all this certainty came, or why she could feel that certainty... Part of the time, this strange connection was what most irritated her.

Damian Wayne was sitting at a table along with his bunch of rascals and sycophants, on the other side of the refectory, looking at Raven as she knew he would be doing. Raven rolled her eyes once more and picked up her things, tossing everything tightly into her bag as she got up to get out of there. She wasn't in her good mood for those looks and didn't want the annoying violet show to start there. She didn't need his official fanclub in her foot...

Raven took a deep breath and didn't look again where a pair of emerald eyes stared at her as she left the refectory trying to think of a place away from it all... She didn't understand why he made her so nervous, but she was sure she didn't wanted to find out why.

Maybe it was just the position of king of the world that he had or how he acted like a selfish, overbearing, spoiled boy... Or maybe it was all together... Or maybe there was something else... Raven shook her head, Garfield certainly said too much.

They had never really talked, the most that had happened were discussions in English literature classes where he always arranged a way to disagree with how she analyzed something and she simply hated it... Over time, she just didn't succeed to avoid roll her eyes in repulsion every single time he said something or was around... It was almost an involuntary reaction of herself.

How could she feel such revulsion from someone she didn't know more than people said about him? She honestly didn't know

Raven took a deep breath and looked at the schedule, had time to still get the biology books in the closet and then slowly walk into the classroom... Luckily, there would be the silence of the room for a few seconds, before all those teen voices filled up the room.

With luck she would have time to think about the question Garfield asked her and now she was running inside... What was she afraid of? She knew the answer, it had to do with her mother's past and how hard she tried not to be like her... But was just it? She wasn't sure. Could it be something else? she hoped not... 

I'm not afraid of anything... Garfield just played with my mind... What would I be afraid of?

Raven was contemplating the beyond in her closet and sunk in her thoughts as fingers snapped in front of her eyes, she blinked a couple of times as she saw the fingers snapping so close to her eyes and an annoying voice saying "hello? Somebody home".

\- "What-"

Raven turned slowly to see who was the idiot who was snapping his fingers in front of her, even though her brain had already made the identification of the voice almost instantaneously... Long, callused fingers snapped in front of her, accompanied by arms being crossed long after she blinked a few times, being brought back to earth, shoulders slumped even with a flawless posture, chin and jaw perfectly sculpted, soft-looking lips, almond-shaped skin, green eyes, and long black hair with a side cut, but still falling strands in a messy way on the side of his face.

Wait, what was I doing? Why am I analyzing every detail of him?

Raven took a deep breath and shook her head slightly before closing the closet door with unnecessary force.

\- "What?"

\- "You're Roth, right? Raven Roth...?"

\- "Two years you annoyed me and didn't bother to know my name? I'm offended..." - She grunted as she turned to walk, looking at the books she carried.

\- "Well... I know now..." - He followed her

\- "Whatever..."

\- "I'm Damian..."

\- "I know... Unfortunately, I know..."

\- "What?"

\- "Nothing, it doesn't matter..."

\- "So..."

\- "What you want? Say fast, I don't want to be the target of your official fanclub..."

\- "I don't have a f-...?"

\- "Hahahaha you have..." - Raven mumbled - "A celebrity has a fan club... It seems like you don't know that..."

\- "What the fuck are you talking about?"

\- "Are you going to play the innocent? Fine..." - she made a spout raising her eyebrows

\- "No? I'm not innocent... You don't know anything about me..."

\- "Thank you to the heavens for not knowing NEARLY anything about you, rich boy... The little that I know is not interesting, I don't think it will change much thing"

\- "Miss Roth, I... I think we could start again... I'm not a guy to try to go back, but I think we can be more to the student body if we have a good relationship and so-"

\- "What? oh, no... Look, I don't have time for whatever you want to talk about now... And I read and I saw romantic comedies enough to suspect that this is some kind of "The Taming of the Shrew" shit with all the betting cliche so, I will spare your time: no, I don't want to talk to you... Nor be your friend... Nor anything... And I would appreciate it if you just leave me alone and didn't keep looking at me because it's weird and I don't want to be the hottest news in school..."

\- "What?"- His eyebrows gathered in almost one - "What are you talking about? Want to know? Fuck it!No matter, you really are an idiot shrew..."

\- "Excuse me?" - Raven turned in her shoes slowly looking at the boy now, not noticing the buzz of students around them watching the little confusion that was beginning to form in the hall.

\- "That's right, a shrew... Is that what you wanted to hear?" - He had an arched eyebrow - "And you want to know more? You were right, Kyle and Maps made a bet that I would persuade you to go to the party, and well, of course I won the bet... You wouldn't never go to the party, you're too prude and shrew and I'm too fucked up for this..."

\- "What?"

\- "That's right..." - Raven could almost feel her eyes turn red with anger, who did he think he was to call her a shrew, prude and stupid in one sentence? And who did he think he was to bet she would not go to parties?

Oh now he had touched a sensitive spot... Raven was proud to the utmost...

Tell her she wouldn't do anything and she would do 10 times better...

\- "Did you end your outbreak because someone is not doing what you want, baby boy?" - Raven only arched an eyebrow... Oh she wouldn't give that taste to him... She would give a whole free sample... And it wasn't in the hallway of the school - "Or you will also knock your foot on the floor and scream more a little? Maybe daddy will come and buy me? Or buy some other little friends to flatter you and make you more selfish, dumb, spoiled, jerk, stupid, and oh... Little shit?"

\- "Who needs friends is you!" 

\- "Oh, thank you... But no one needs to buy them for me and be stupid with them so they kiss my feet..." 

\- "Stay away from me, witch!"

\- "Stay away from me too, idiot!"

\- "I hate you!" 

\- "I hate you more! Just stay away you stupid witch!"

\- "Stay away from me you, selfish arrogant..." - They hadn't noticed, but were so close, that Raven could see every little scar he had on his face, while Damian felt his brain working 10 times faster as he analyzed every detail of her face so close.

There were no more than five centimeters between them... A sudden movement and they would be one in the arms of the other

Raven noticed that he had many small scars, but some were more sparing than others, but almost imperceptible if you were too far away, like a small scar below the eyebrow, a faint silver tone in a thin line just below the apple of his face and a small white scar on the lower lip, almost imperceptible... Raven caught herself noticing all the shades of green he had in his eyes and golden dots mixed with green in his iris. Almost two emeralds with touches of gold... Pretty emeralds...

Damian could almost bet that Raven had a cotton skin, her skin was immaculate and sure enough, soft to the touch, white as the first snow falling at Christmas, with black hair like a starless night and bulky, rosy, soft lips that he would always catch by watching her bite as she read something. He held his breath, she was almost a live version of Snow White, with blue eyes, dotted with little violet tones. She had two blue sapphires in her eyes... Pretty blue sapphires, adorned by large black eyelashes.

\- "Kiss each other now and stop fighting!"

Strangely they hadn't noticed how close they were and hadn't noticed that they were looking at each other in silence and their little quarrel had drawn a small crowd until someone shouts.

\- "Not even on my corpse I... I'd kiss someone like you..."

\- "I... I'm seen as a prince from where I came, I would never kiss you..."

\- "Fine!" 

\- "Fine!"

Raven spun again and started walking again toward the classroom, letting him walk back to the refectory, ignoring how much her heart was pounding now. 

First, what had happened? How could they simply be silent for what? seconds? minutes? just looking like two idiots? Raven rolled her eyes, if there had been rumors before, now it would be worse...

Second, did he think she wasn't good enough to go to parties? Because she would be the main attraction of the party... She would make him swallow that phrase without thinking twice. Raven rolled her eyes and started walking faster again hugging her own books against her chest heavily, leaving the murmurs of other students entered her head.

She needed to find Garfield or Rose, or whoever it was to tell the news.

Raven had a party to go to.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm not the kind of girl who runs around like this

Damian rolled his eyes at the ceiling as he heard the sounds coming from somewhere on the roof. He knew he was going to regret it all and would regret going to the penthouse that weekend, but now that half of the college just talked about the party that his adopted brother was giving, he ended up being forced to be the host and stay in place to get his not-so-friends... Now this seemed too stupid an idea for him.

He'd rather be in Gotham, in the mansion and with his pets, and the silence of the gardens along with tea and a good book. 

But now, he had to be in San Francisco on a Penthouse, along with a bunch of teenagers he saw every day at school and his brother's most correct of all... Damian hated his impulsiveness and was starting to hate thinking about who was the cause of all this impulsivity... 

Damn big, graceful and blue eyes...

\- "Are you going to lie down all day?" - Tim Drake, his famous and "I am the cute and all correct" brother and party planter muttered, staring out the door to where Damian was lying. - "You know I didn't mind you inviting your friends, but... I need you to be there to receive them..." - Damian took a deep breath and covered his eyes with his arm.

\- "It's not because my father isn't here that you have to act like him, Drake... I know my responsibilities as a host... although I think it was stupid, thinking right now..."

\- "Hey... Relax... I'm not trying to be Bruce..." Tim folded his arms, his blue eyes looking curious at Damian waiting for something.

\- "What?" - Damian grunted, taking his arm out of his eyes. - "I already told you I'm going to the fucking party..."

\- "Something tells me you're dealing with something new now..."

\- "Excuse me? What the hell are you talking about, Drake?"

\- "Who is she?"

\- "It's just a stupid girl and she's not even that special with those big blue eyes, who does she think she is?" - Damian didn't see it when he said it, but he regretted the instant he heard a laugh from the door - "The girls, they... I mean, they're not all that special... Wait, what are you talking about? No... There is no 'she'..."

\- "That's why you wanted to invite your friends! There's a girl! Well, I wondered if it could be a boy but now that you've said she has big blue eyes, there sure is a girl in this whole story..."

\- "What?"

\- "You never know, D... I've never heard of you talking to a girl so I've opened the options... I don't judge if you like boys too... It's normal..."

\- "WHAT?"

\- "D, you're a teenager, you're 17 and I never knew you were attracted to some girl, I thought maybe..."

\- "You thought wrong... And shut up..."

\- "So does she come or not today?"

\- "It's not what you're thinking... And no, she's not going to parties..."

\- "So there's a girl?"

\- "Oh fuck, Drake! Is not it! She's from the student body, and so am I, I need to have a minimally acceptable relationship with my fellow schoolmates... Don't think it's all about romance and stupidity... There's.no.girl..."

\- "Of course it has..." 

\- "I quit..."

\- "How is she?"

\- "I'm not going to tell you anything, it's no use... You think I'm just like you, Todd and Grayson, who can't see female legs that you melt... I don't know where you got that idea about me..."

\- "Your behavior said a lot, But now, you've pretty much confirmed even saying no, and well, I can say for sure: there is a girl and she kicked your ass..."

\- "What behavior? Don't be stupid, Drake..." - Damian grumbled and covered his face with his arm - "And get out of my room... "

\- "Well, since you came back from school you're different... I mean, more different than you normally are..." - Tim folded his arms, watching Damian snort like a child getting a grin. - "You're more nervous and more acidic than normal... And more arrogant... And was even excited about a party days ago ...

\- "Get out of my room, Drake..."

\- "You know you can talk to us about it, right?"

\- "About 'it' what?"

\- "Feelings... You can talk to me or to Dick and even to Jason about feelings... We've been through a lot of girls kicking our ass" - Damian removed his arm from his face and looked at Tim for a couple of seconds totally blank before snorting again. - "It hurts in the ego at first, but over time it improves..."

\- "Out, Drake..." - Damian mumbled - "I will not ask again..."

\- "Okay..." - Tim raised his arms in surrender - "You know..." - And without another word, Tim left Damian alone again with his thoughts and wondering why the hell he said that.

She really wasn't that special... She was a girl like any other, with big blue eyes like any other... 

She wasn't that special...

So why did he care so much about what she thought? Or what she said? Or why he cared so much about her never looking at him without rolling her eyes? Why did he leave like a desperate by the refectory after her to call her to a party? And for God's sake, why he couldn't find the words when she looked at him with those eyes... Fuck! He didn't even know why in the hell he'd lied about Maps and Kyle making a bet.

Damian wanted to hit something right now to stop trying to find a reason for it all, it's been two years since they got annoyed in class, there was not one why, there was never one why...

He just had to forget that he tried to call her to this stupid party and get ready before Tim would return to the room to talk about a lot of stupidity... He didn't have the patience for that again...

Meanwhile, in another part of town, Raven came out of the bath hugging a towel tight to her body and was being pushed into the room by Tara Markov and Rose Wilson.

Raven should have foreseen this, but now she simply hated herself for being so impulsive and simply getting carried away by the challenge as Rose and Tara made her their own living doll.

\- "Rose, I will not wear this..." - Raven grumbled for the fifth time, looking at the black dress stretched out under the bed - "I don't even want to go to that party..."

\- "Well... Now it's a little late for that, little bird..."

\- "I should think better before I make a decision..." - Raven grunted, rubbing her face. Extremely sorry of her wounded ego act.

She remembered very well now, and she just wanted a time machine to go back and simply not do what she had done.

Raven was the very representation of Pride and her aunt always said that this was her greatest sin... She regretted not having heard her aunt's voice now as Tara and Rose spent the day turning her into a porcelain doll inside a million things she didn't even know she needed to put on... And all this had happened because Damian Wayne, the boy with whom she had an eternal fight, had bet that she wouldn't be at the party he was inviting to be too 'prude' for this

Say something that Raven can't do and she would do 10 times better... Even if she repented on the way

After strangely arguing in the middle of the hall with screams and offenses, Raven ran after Rose Wilson to say that she needed to make Damian swallow everything he had called her and that she would go to that goddamn party... Raven promised that she would be the greatest attraction of the party and now she just wanted to put on her pajamas and go to sleep and forget that one day she had done it..

Of course Rose wouldn't let her regret now.

Rose had been friend with Raven since before she entered school, they were friends even before Raven went to live with Aunt Alice... The reason is that for a while, Raven and Rose were sisters. Angela had a brief relationship with Rose's father, a former military man who was extremely authoritarian and who spent much of his time traveling. Raven never liked the man, but became very close to Rose and Joseph, Rose's brother.

Despite her authoritarian father, Rose was anything but a straight-up girl. She was a good girl and a good friend, but she was the problem with legs and long silver hair, at age 17 she had already kissed half the school and broken the nose of the other half... Damian Wayne entered the list of broken noses. Rose was what you would call a bad girl... 

Rose, Joey, and Raven loved spending hours together... And he knew he could count on Raven always... He and Rose were totally opposite, and Raven was happy to have them as fake siblings...

And she was very happy to have the confidence of Joey and Rose... Despite her mother's relationship with Rose's father having ended up like all the other relationships that Angela had, Raven knew she had won two brothers.

But sometimes, Rose was as annoying like a sister could be.

\- "Come on, little bird... It's just a simple dress..."

\- "Why can't I go in jeans? Everyone goes in jeans for these things..."

\- "Didn't you want to be the main attraction of the party? So..."

\- "If that's the problem, I totally withdraw what I said... I don't want to be any attraction... I don't even want to go to this party ... Done?"

\- "But obviously not..."

\- "Oh come on Rae..." - Rose opened a huge smile - "Let's show what that hideous uniform hides..."

\- "I thought dresses were for balls..."

\- "That's too short for a ball..." - Tara grunted as she walked through Raven's room - "Oh, this dress is really going to show a lot of things..." - Raven looked at the dress again, which looked incredibly too thin, too small, too transparent every time she looked at him

\- "I'm not wearing that..."

\- "You have nothing more decent in your Raven wardrobe... Either you wear this dress, or you wear panties and bra..."

\- "Or I will not go... Simple like this..." - Raven grunted through her teeth.

\- "Tara is exaggerating, Raven... It's just a strap dress... You can wear a jacket over..." - Rose opened an innocent smile, which Raven knew wasn't innocent at all - "Of course at prom we go wear a long dress with many shiny jewels and lace and buttons and fancy and expensive fabrics... This dress is almost a nightgown compared to a prom dress..."

\- "I will not be able to lower myself in this dress..."

\- "Well... And why do you want to lower yourself? Does not make any sense..."

\- "I don't know! What if I let something fall? What if I need to get something on the floor?"

\- "First: You have nothing that you can 'drop' on the ground, second, depending on whether you accidentally let something fall on the floor, in this little black dress you will have at least 5 pairs of male hands to pick up for you and third, no, there is nothing better to wear and we want you to look beautiful, fantastic, hot and that your boobs finally feel a little free to live hidden inside that tight shirt

\- "Hmm... I have jeans ... And I have shirts... And I'm glad I don't have male eyes on my boobs, thank you..."

\- "No... Forget your jeans... If you dare to get one of those jeans I swear I have a penknife here and I'm not afraid to use..." - Rose rolled her eyes - "If you get a pair of jeans I'll rip everything until you have no more to wear..."

\- "You wear jeans... Why can't I?"

\- "I'm not the hottest subject in school, Rae..." - Rose gave a mischievous smile, looking at Raven hugging the towel around her body. 

\- "I don't want to be the hottest subject in school, Rose..."

\- "You don't have to want to" - Tara grunted as she stepped out of the now-practically-finished bathroom into a blouse and earthy shorts that worked for her. - "After the little discussion you and Damian gave to school this week you're the hottest subject at school... And most likely to become the hottest topic in gossip columns as well... For some reason, newspapers always get information about the confusions he engages in college"

\- "Oh the heated and full of sexual tension discussion in the hallway !!" - Rose licked her lips, looking at Raven with a look full of excitement. - "Tell us again, How did you almost kiss the rich grumpy number 1 kid from school? I have to admit, he's not that bad... Physically speaking"

\- "I told you, it didn't happen this way... He just ... I just... " - Raven took a deep breath and closed her eyes - "He irritated me, okay? He called me a shrew! He said that he had bet with Maps that I wouldn't go to this party..." - Raven grunted, remembering how the rumor got worse after their discussion in the middle of the corridor.

\- "And you were so close to each other that you could have kissed..." - Tara's voice I see from somewhere

\- "We weren't that close..."

\- "The rumor that runs is that you were almost kissing... Others say you kissed... You know, everyone thinks you already kissed hidden by the school..." - Raven rolled her eyes

\- "I would not kiss that boy ever in my life... Not even dead... Not even if I needed to kiss him to survive... I... I prefer to go through the 7 hells than kiss that stupid and selfish boy..."

\- "Oh does he smell bad? How can anyone swear not to kiss a guy like this? The only explanation is, does he smell bad? Oh is the hair?"

\- "How would I know that?" 

\- "Well, you were almost climbing on it, according to the rumors of your discussion ... You can smell someone if you are too close..."

\- "Oh shut up Rose... You know this rumors are lying..."

\- "Yeah, I know they are... You're too good girl to 'climb' on a boy..."

\- "Fuck off, Rose"

\- "Despite the asshole attitude, he's cute..." - Rose said with a smile

\- "And he has a nice body... Have you seen him training?" - Tara grunted, sitting on the bed.

\- "Yeah...! I've seen..."

\- "And he's a petty, selfish idiot..." - Raven grunted, bursting out the bubble of drool that Tara and Rose had closed off - "And if you could stop babbling for him it would be great... There are a bunch of boys identical to him anywhere... He's not that special"

\- "Is someone jealous?"

\- "What? No... Why would I be jealous of someone so dumb?"

\- "I don't know... Maybe because you want someone so dumb..."

\- "I don't know where you and Garfield get such a stupid idea like this..."

\- "Oh Raven, you can hate him, but you have to assume he's a handsome guy..."

\- "He's not that special..." - Raven shrugged.

\- "Forget it, Tara... Rae is too pure to feel horny for anyone..."

\- "Rose, you're a bitch... It's doesn't serve as a parameter for anyone..."

\- "And I like this, thank you..." - She bowed to Raven with a smile on her lips - "Hey... Is he a virgin? You know, he never showed up with anyone, but I don't think anyone so rich will never had, you know, fucked someone..."

\- "Oh sweet baby Jesus, I really don't want to hear this..." - Raven capped the ears

\- "Pretty prissy, Raven? Can't you hear from a guy fucking someone or are you just jealous of imagining him fucking someone else?"

\- "Don't you want to imagine that golden body moving over someone, the hoarse, low voice saying dirty things in someone's ear? All those tensed muscles? A low moan coming from those lips" - Rose laughed softly. - "Are you too pure to imagine it, or are you too jealous to imagine it?" 

\- "Or did you get too excited thinking about it?"

\- "None of these options I just... I don't want to hear..." - She grunted. - "And I already said I don't give two fucks for this petty, stupid, selfish boy..."

\- "Okay... You know we're pissing you off..." - Rose grunted with laughter - "But if there's a river running between your legs you can go to the bathroom to play yourself... We wait for you to finish your... duties... To finish getting dressed"

Raven grimaced and rolled her eyes, teasing laughter from Tara and Rose. After a few minutes laughing or in silence, Tara decided to speak again.

\- "I don't know why you hate him SO MUCH, Raven... He's cute, the most popular guy in high school, he's known as a problem boy, he's rich... It's not the end of the world to be a rumor of his girlfriend... And it's definitely not the end of the world to find him hot..."

\- "Tara, if you want the idiot Wayne he's all yours..." - Raven mumbled without looking at the blond haired girl

\- "And become the new subject in high school? It's even tempting, but no, thank you..." - She grunted holding Raven's face to draw the thin line in the girl's eye - "Damian Wayne is really hot, but... Being the subject of 'separation pivot' is not how I want it to have fame in high school..."

Tara was a almost-friend-but-not-so-friend of Raven. She was a sometimes irritating girl with a strong temperament most of the time but who turned out to be just a shell to survive in the school environment in some rare moments... She came from a rich family, from a country called Markovia, but she didn't say much about it, which made Raven very intrigued by so much mystery about the blonde girl. 

Garfield followed her like a pet dog and they even formed a handsome couple, but Tara refused to assume she had anything with the boy with green hair and sometimes, Raven even felt sorry for Garfield... He was in a bad romance, but he was so in love that he didn't want to see it. Raven sometimes didn't trust Tara and she knew Rose didn't either, but she was always with Garfield so things just fit together.

\- "Shut up Tara..." - Rose grunted throwing a bag at Raven, who barely had time to defend herself - "Everyone knows that Wayne likes birds... Cute blue-eyed birds and black hair... Does he jerk off thinking about Rae?"

\- "Oh..."

\- "Oh Rose you always have to be nasty... Ew, what a disgust..." - Raven grimaced and then looked back into the bag. - "What is it?"

\- "It's not disgust, Raven... It's... Normal..." - She laughed - Boys at that age do not have much control of things... And every kid always has a... Muse... Or do you think you spend 100% unnoticed in school...?

\- "I don't want to be a muse to anyone... Thank you so much" - Raven growled.

\- "He looks at you most of the time, Raven. You imagine, all this explosion of hormones and then you appear, in your all glory, the good girl in a short and pleated skirt in the best schoolgirl style, with a tight blouse that never closes completely, long hair and those pink lips... You are the exemplar of every erotic dream of the boys, Raven, if that kid doesn't jerk off after seeing you like that, he's probably gay..."

\- "Oh shut up Rose..." - Raven rolled her eyes.

\- "Anyway, this isn't something for you to worry about... Go wear these underwear... If you're going to stick to a dress like this, you need to wear something that leaves people wondering whether or not you're wearing one underwear..."

\- "What?" - Raven looked at Rose and then into the bag just to find a tiny piece of lace - "Oh no... No way I'll go to a Wayne party, wear a dress like that and a piece of fabrics like this that same day..."

\- "You have no choice, Raven... You asked for our help ..."

\- "For the first time I have to agree with Tara... You asked for our help, little bird... It will be in our rules... And besides, over time you will see that it's very comfortable..."

\- "Rose's comments do not help at all..." - Raven took a deep breath.

\- "Whatever it is, we must hurry... You know Gar will not want to miss a second of this party and he'll be here soon... You don't want to be walking around with just a towel..."

\- "It scares me how detached you are from your boyfriend, Tara..."

\- "He's not my boyfriend, Rose..."

\- Well, you're together for months, sleep in each other's house on weekends and do things together..."

\- "But it's not a date..."

\- "Good, then maybe I can try something with him... Last time was fun..." - Rose bit her lip - "Not that it's my first choice, but... Wayne's brother is probably going to give me up again and I'm going to need a shoulder to comfort me..."

"Do what you think is best, Rose," - Tara grunted "I just don't think that's very kind of you. "

\- "Well, we're going to console Tara... But if you want to get into the group of people who are dismissed, you know that three is really good.... "

\- "Oh God, Rose..." - Raven grunted, grimacing.

\- "What? Threesome is something interesting, little bird..."

\- "You're a bitch, Rose..." - Raven growled - "Anyway, do I have a choice?"

\- "No..." - Tara and Rose said in unison.

\- "Okay! But... I have conditions..."

\- "We can analyze..."

\- "I'm going to put on my shoe... No high heels, no gaining more than 30 inches in height with a shoe and I'll wear a jacket because I don't want hungry eyes on my chest... And it'll be your jacket, Rose..."

\- "What?"

\- "How many conditions..."

\- "That's it or I wear my old unicorn pajamas and I'm going to study..." - The two girls looked at each other for a second before snorting in a deep breath.

\- "Okay, fine...!" - Raven laughed - " But go get dressed... Now!"

Raven rolled her eyes and stood up, practically dragged into the bathroom carrying the bag hugging tightly against her chest and Tara taking the dress just behind.

Raven dressed quickly, too ashamed of her own body inside that tiny dress as Tara and Rose commented on how the dress accentuated every curve of her and how she should invest more in clothes like that and all that shit as she looked at herself in the mirror wondering mentally if the universe was playing with her at that moment.

Raven wasn't going to parties, part because she didn't like it, part because she knew parties were mostly problems and they reeked of alcohol and teenage pregnancy for the most part and part because her aunt usually gave her so many caveats that they were almost a ban... But this time, Alice just told her to take care of herself and not to delay to go home... Maybe it was the fact that Rose and Tara looked very convincing and good girls promising to have dinner any day with the Roth family... But now in that dress, Raven wondered what her super-religious aunt would think... She wasn't the type to forbid or something, but Aunt Alice was the type who would look at that dress and would judge mentally... Maybe remember how Angela was...

Angela ...

Raven took a deep breath, there in that black dress, eye makeup, lipstick on her mouth and with all that production, Raven looked like her mother and began to feel a mix of anger and longing that she couldn't explain... Where would Angela now? Did she remember her? She never called or sent a card... Was she alive? Raven didn't know...

\- "Hey, little bird, what happened?" - Rose put a hand on Raven's shoulder, sending the girl back into the land of the living. Raven noticed a solitary tear trickling down her cheek and tried to clean it quickly, erasing any trace of her sad memories.

\- "Nothing is just... The makeup... My... My eye burned a little..." - Raven shook her head to remove the image of Angela from her head - "Hmm... So, I'm ready or you have any more foolishness that I have to know...? - Rose looked at Raven for a few seconds, knowing perfectly well that Raven hid things like no one else, but then she smiled and quickly reached into the pocket of her jacket. - "What is this?" - Raven reached into her pocket as soon as she withdrew her hand, finding dozens of little packages that looked like...

\- "Condoms, bird... You never know when it's necessary and it's always important to be sexually safe..."

\- "Rose you... I... Oh my God you..."

\- "Shii, it's just preventative..."

\- "I will not need it..."

\- "You never know..."

\- "Raven...! Your friend is here...!" - Aunt Alice shouted from somewhere at the foot of the stairs, making the three pairs of eyes look at each other.

\- "Okay Aunt Alice, I'm already coming down... Thank you"

\- "Fine, go put on your shoes, cinderella..."

\- "Shut up ..." - Raven grunted as she hurried into the bedroom to squeeze into her good old shoe while listening to Garfield's upbeat voice talking about bringing them all safely by the end of the party.

Raven had to roll her eyes more often than she did all day when Garfield saw her. With each comment, he seemed to have made some kind of plot with Rose to embarrass or irritate her and they were succeeding, Raven swore she wouldn't go into another dress after that night... And she wouldn't go to another parties too...

Raven was already bidding farewell to her dances with names of seasons and prom... That party at the Wayne house had ruined any hope of her going to another teenage party... And she hadn't even arrived at the party yet...

On the other hand, Rose, Tara, and Garfield cheerfully commented on who had been invited by the boy and about some stupid thing that Raven could not and did not want to pay attention to, she felt uneasy inside, as if she had some sort of anxiety about what she would find and for some stupid reason, her mind began to stupidly bombard every detail she had recorded during her discussion in the hall of the school... 

Every little scar on his face, every detail of green and gold he had in his eyes... She didn't even know why she was thinking about it now, but it seemed to make all the talk in the car become a buzzing in the background, while her mind was inflated with big emerald green eyes with a touch of gold.

Damn big green eyes.

Raven was pulled to the ground when Tara touched her shoulder and showed the building. In a secluded part of San Francisco, a piece of land surrounded by water and with only one road connecting it to the city emerged an imposing building. Raven wondered how many floors this could have and why they thought it would be interesting to have it look like a gigantic T, mirrored from top to bottom.

There was movement at the door of the building, cars entering what should be access to the parking lot underground, people coming from rented cars and many people hugging. It wasn't just a little gathering, it was a party that would probably be the topic all over the corner the next day and probably until some Wayne's next scandal.

Raven snorted regretfully for the thousandth time that night, she definitely shouldn't let herself be carried away by her pride, it always put her in situations that made her regret it later...

\- "Oh... There are a lot of people here..."

\- "Tim Drake, the foster brother of the hate ball, is responsible for the party..." - Gar grunted and Raven heard Rose's brief sigh, this Tim Drake was a kind of unreachable prize that Rose always tried to achieve until the boy graduated from high school the year before - "You know, college guys do that and billionaires do that... Together the two and you have an event like this..."

\- "I hardly see anyone from school..." - Tara grunted, staring out the window.

\- "Only a few people were invited, baby..."

\- "Could you explain again how we got invited?" Because as far as I can remember, we're not the favorite friends of the hate ball... Except for Raven..."

\- "Rose..."

\- "Hm.... Okay..." - Garfield blinked a few times as he looked at Rose and Raven and then shook his head, turning his attention to the wheel - "Ahnn... Strangely, Damian said he'd appreciate it if we could show up here... It was weird... We never talked to him, even thought he hated us..."

\- "Of course he hates us, Gar... That kid hates everyone, probably... But you know, we are the door for someone else to come..."

\- "Oh don't make me regret it any more, Rose... I'm trying to get out of my head that we're going to this kid's house..."

\- "Anyway," - Garfield grumbled, stopping the car in a parking lot, everything that involved that family was great like that? - "Let's party, Mama!"

\- "Good! I can't stay sit in this car anymore..." - Tara grunted as she opened the door and adjusted her clothes while Rose smiled opening the door for Raven, forcing her out of the car.

Raven took a deep breath and accepted Rose's arm as a support, there were lots of people there, hopefully she would go unnoticed at all and maybe not even meet that kid who was the biggest cause of her being there ...

As the elevator climbed, Raven could hear a beat coming from the top floors, probably no one else lived in that building... Or the loud music would have already brought trouble... Not that rich as the Wayne got into whatever the problem was with the police...

"You will not find him..."

8th  
9th  
10th

Raven repeated in her mind every whistle of the elevator, telling her which floor they were on, with each beat she heard coming from a distance, with each leap of her own heart... She was beginning to think now what she would do if she saw him there, she had said she was not going to...

But now she was there

"You will not find him..."

11th  
12th  
13th  
14th

She never said that she would, and now she wondered if she ran into him, what would she do ...

"You will not find him ..."

15th  
16th  
17th

"You will not find him..."

18th  
19th  
20th

The elevator doors opened revealing a dimly lit environment, but it was full of life with people talking loudly, flashing lights and laughter amid a contagious beat that made her bones tremble...

And in the midst of it all, Raven felt her breath catch in her throat and everything around her seemed to slow down almost to a stop in time. Part of her brain listened to the song talking about danger, part of her mind heard Garfield's excited scream and felt Rose's hand around her wrist, but most of it was stuck in green eyes standing in front of the elevator door , dotted with colored lights blinking in a frantic way, in front of her in silence for what seemed like forever until they both decided to open their mouths, the sound coming out muffled by the sound of infectious beats.

\- "You..."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baby you could be the death of me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Author's Tip: Listen PVRIS's Death Of Me (is a REALLY good song) while reading the chapter*

**She was there.**

Damian felt his breath catch in his whole body, and all his muscles and bones simply didn't respond to any command of his brain.

She had said she wasn't going, that had been the motive (of one more) of their fight in the hallway of the school that week and here she was, standing in the elevator door... Damian almost thought it was some idiotic piece of his mind.

The truth is, he didn't know why he was scared to see her there, even after rejecting his offer of peace. He had called those friends of hers because he didn't want her to feel alone, it was obvious that they would persuade her to go...

But he was still surprised that she was really there... He wouldn't go to someone he hated and they hated each other, right? For some reason, they hated each other...

Damian knew he hated her for being too correct, not a plausible reason to hate anything or anyone, but that made him mad, made him restless, anxious, nervous and he knew that this had happened since the first time they saw each other.

He didn't believe in love at first sight, his life with his mother had proved it to him, but since he'd met Raven, since he'd seen those peaceful and at the same time, tempestuous blues in her eyes he understood that hatred at first sight existed... They hated each other for two years... They barked and argued more than anyone at that school...

She was too correct, with her hair always perfectly attached, her school uniform perfectly dressed, her schoolwork perfectly correct, her attention always focused on the books she spent hours reading anywhere and her eyes perfectly defiant. Oh those damned big blue eyes like two blue sapphires with touches of violet.

It all made him restless, anxious, nervous and he hated it... And that made a clash between them happen for the most ridiculous reasons.

She wasn't that special... 

But she was different that night, something broken in her extreme innocence and perfection that made Damian even more restless, anxious and nervous... He didn't know if it was the loose hair, lightly shaggy or whether it was the eyes that were marked differently than she used to, or whether it was her mouth that looked too soft, tinged with a purple. It was a rebellious version of her... 

She wasn't that special... 

But she was different

Damian took a deep breath trying to react again, he couldn't stand like an idiot there, watching her while all her friends were staring at two without understanding what was happening.

\- "You..." - They both said in unison.

\- "Oh... Hey, Damian, right?" - The green-haired kid Damian knew only for Logan said waving his hand, causing Damian to nod slowly toward him, drawing attention from every detail he kept from Raven from his mind - "Hmmm... Thanks for inviting us for your... Hmm... House party? I hope you do not mind if we bring someone else... Our friend, Raven... You must know h-"

\- "They know each other, Garfield, don't be stupid..."

\- "It's all right... I don't care... It's not my party, Logan, it's my brother's... And I know Roth" - Damian tried to harden his voice, didn't want to show the astonishment to see her there, he had no reason for it right? He hated her - "I thought you weren't going to parties, Roth..."

\- "I knew it was a bad idea to come, Rose..." - she grunted, taking a few steps into the elevator again just to have her arms held by the silver-haired girl and Tara Markov

\- "No no no..." - The silver-haired girl grunted, pulling Raven out of the elevator again. Damian's eyes met hers again and Damian felt something explode inside him... And he did not know what it was.

Maybe he should see a doctor to explain it all later.

\- "You're already here..." - He managed to say after trying to find his voice somewhere - "I don't see the reason to just leave... You can feel free to do what you want, Roth..." - Damian growled.

\- "And do you think that the fact that I just arrived is a reason for me not to go? I can leave when I want... Asshole..."

\- "Great! So do what you think is best, I don't care..."

\- "I don't care too..."

\- "Hmmm... Okay, a lot of tension here... Let's go for a ride Raven... Let's find someone nice to talk to..." - The silver-haired girl Damian vaguely known to Rose Wilson grumbled past him as she pulled Raven by the arm inside the party, making sure to hit his shoulder, taking him out of the way.

Damian watched them disappear into the crowd, then took a deep breath and strode from there, walking into the elevator and pressing the button harder than necessary to get out of there to the roof. He was going there before meeting her in the elevator, and now he just needed some air to put all the buzzing of his head in order. The roof would be quiet and peaceful enough for him to manage mentally.

Raven watched as he disappeared into the elevator and took a deep breath trying to ignore it, he was an asshole and she must remember that, of course he would be a jerk with her there too, it was his nature.

\- "Hey... Are you okay?" - Rose grunted, stopping with her near where the music was louder.

\- "I'm... I'm fine, Rose... Don't worry..."

\- "Do you guys always need to have this sexual tension between you two?"

\- "What? There is no tension between us, stop saying stupidity, Rose... You saw, we hate each other..."

\- "Hmmmmmmmmmmm the looks he gave when the elevator door opened was not of hate..."

\- "Oh shut up..." - Raven rolled her eyes - "Hmm... What is done at parties like that?"

\- "I almost forgot that today you lose your virginity of parties... Hmmm... I'll get something for us to drink, some special request?"

\- "Is there anything alcohol free?"

\- "Hardly... It's a party for grown-ups, Raven..."

\- "It turns out that neither you nor I are of age... We have 17 years..."

\- "This is not an excuse... Hmm... I'll get a beer... Maybe the least alcoholic here, surely the other drinks have at least liters and liters of vodka..."

\- "Where's Tara and Gar?"

\- "Only God knows where they are, Rae... You have to learn this about Garfield at parties... Only God knows where he goes..."

\- "Oh..."

\- "You survive without me for few seconds?"

\- "Of course, Rose..." - Raven took a deep breath and crossed her arms. Rose smiled and kissed Raven's cheek.

\- "I will not be long to come back... I promise..."

\- "Okay..." - Rose stepped away and within seconds, Raven could no longer see where she had gone. The party was getting louder and fuller and Raven was starting to feel too hot. The jacket looked like an oven, but she didn't want to take it away... I wasn't about to look at her.

The truth is, Raven felt insecure about herself, and her own body. As much as Rose and Tara and Joey always said that she had a beautiful body and as much as she noticed the looks of the boys, Raven didn't feel good about herself...

Putting herself into a short dress like that was the most she showed, after wearing a shirt that didn't close tight and a skirt she always found too short.

Take off the jacket and show her arms and how the dress was straining on her body? No way...

\- "Hey? You are alone?" - A voice brought Raven to the party again and she found a pair of blue-eyed pool in front of her with a warm smile.

\- "Ahnn... No, I..." - She shook her head and looked in the direction where Rose had walked - "My friend said she would get a drink and... I think she must have found some distraction on the way... Why?"

\- "Oh..." - he smiled - "Nothing, you were lonely here, thoughtful... No one has to be only pensive at a party..." - he crossed his arms - "You aren't from college... It is too young for be from college."

\- "No... I'm not..." - Raven took a deep breath, looking back to where Rose had disappeared, she honestly didn't want to lose her friend by sight, but Rose was easily distracted and possibly had found something more interesting than serving as a shield for college stupid boys for Raven..

\- "Timothy Drake, but you can call me Tim..." - He reached out for her. Raven stared for a few seconds. Okay, it was okay to talk to someone, it was okay to meet someone... Parties were for that.

And besides, he was responsible for the party and, unlike his brother, he was being receptive and polite.

Tim seemed to be the kid who wanted everyone to be okay, how could he be so different from the idiot he had as a brother?

\- "Raven Roth..." - Raven smiled as she took his hand.

\- "Oh... Nice to meet you, Raven... Hey, are not you drinking anything? Come on, let's get you something... "

\- "Oh... You don't need my... my friend, Rose, went to get..." - Raven almost laughed as she saw his expression change as she quoted Rose... They lived like cat and mouse, Rose was the cat, always behind the one Tim Drake, her favorite mouse, to try to seduce him.

\- "Rose? Rose Wilson? You are friends? So you know my brother, Damian? You probably study together..." - He looked around - "I could swear he was here right now... "

\- "Hmmm... "

\- "Rae! Here, I brought you a weak and bland and boring drink and wow, Hey sweet boy?" - Rose sank between Tim and Raven.

\- "Rose...?! What... What do you think about dancing? you know, it's a party, and Tim sure has other guests to greet..." - Raven growled, pulling Rose away from the boy who had a terrified face - "See you around, Tim..."

Raven saw a look of appreciation coming from Tim as she pulled Rose away from him, into the colored lights that flickered with the contagious beat of the song. 

\- "Why did you interrupt me, Raven? I was so close..."

\- "Rose, sexual harassment is not cool..."

\- "It wasn't harassment..."

\- "You should move on, he is a right kid, will not fall into your taunts unless you force him and I know you will not do it... "

\- "Don't challenge me, little bird..."

\- "I'm not... Anyway, a party is for dancing, right? so okay let's do this..."

Meanwhile, three floors above where Raven and Rose danced in soft, synchronized beats, Damian was sitting on the roof of the apartment feeling the wind hit his face and trying to make his neurons work again. The wind was good, it helps to reflect, and he's been reflecting a lot lately, and the biggest cause of it was also responsible for his angry outbursts.

Raven Roth

Not thinking about her was something he'd been training lately when something had happened, but now he had all those images in his head, like an endless loop of memories, the softness her skin seemed to have, the blue tones dancing on her iris, her hair falling messily on her shoulders, framing her face in a very disturbing and at the same time beautiful image.

He needed a moment to stop thinking about it and stop acting like an idiot... That would increase more and more the rumors that they had something and he didn't want to be that kind of news. If something like that blew and his brothers knew, he'd be fucked for the rest of his miserable life. He had only to ignore her presence there, and at school, and in all his days...

She wasn't so special...

She wasn't so special...

She wasn't so special...

So why couldn't he simply ignore her existence?

Damian didn't want to know and didn't want to ask because to be honest with himself, Damian knew that maybe he was crazy... Or maybe it was just an attraction he didn't want to feel, or maybe he was just being what she said he was: a spoiled boy who couldn't stand the idea of a girl scorning him... This was something he didn't really want to find out

He snorted, after a few good minutes there, just trying to control himself and remembering that it was just a stupid party for his brother and that there were a lot of people there and that he didn't need to be worried about meeting her, Damian decided to go back to where the music was loud.

Feeling as bored as possible, Damian sat in a chair, resting his chin in one hand as he stared at the improvised dance floor. The songs weren't as bad as he thought, there was a nice mix of beats and synths that made the music inviting to a dance he definitely wouldn't dance.

Everything had a limit, and sure enough, dancing exceeded any limit for him.

Damian focused his attention there on the music, listening to dangerous and deadly loves, it was a song about love, but the beats were loud, the lyrics talked about knowing how dangerous the other would be, but still accepting love... It was an interesting song... and Damian started to think he was an idiot for be analyzing romantic music at a party full of teenagers and irresponsibility... Maybe, just maybe, he was the adult there, despite his bad boy reputation.

He was too bored, looking around, taking important notes about the people in his mind, until he saw the image he had been erasing since the elevator doors opened that night. 

He tried to divert his attention to something else, but he just couldn't help it, he always looked at her again. It was funny how she swayed on the dancefloor. Her eyes were closed as she felt the music with her soul. She had her arms free, swinging in an almost mystical rhythm. She no longer wore her jacket and held a bottle in her hand, making light sips and grimacing soon after.

Surely it was the first time she drank it... Damian could almost smile at it. She glanced quickly to where he was and for a fraction of a second, their eyes met again that night, before Damian looked away and returned his bored expression and walked off across the place, to any other place he didn't feel obligated to look at her.

Damian managed not to be an asshole in what could be said, for an hour or two after that brief exchange of glances with her. As the party went on into the night and dawn, people got looser... Some college girls would come to him, try to get him to the dance floor or to private places he didn't want. People came to talk to him about random things and Damian even let himself participate in a stupid game of drinks.

When he simply ignored the anger, he could have a little fun like the others at the party. It was simple, just don't look at her dancing and talking to other guys... He could do it for a long enough, right?

\- "Who is she...?" - Tim Drake's voice, a little muffled, echoed in Damian's head as he played unpretentiously with a bottle in his hand.

\- "There's no 'she', Drake... I already said..."

\- "You were nervous... You should open up more, it will do you good..."

\- "I'm not going to have therapy with a drunk guy, Drake..."

\- "It's not therapy... It's talking to your older brother about girls... You don't want to talk about girls with Jason..."

\- "You could, I don't know, find someone else to talk to?"

\- "No... You are my brother... My sweet little cute baby brother and I see that you are lonely at my party... Nobody gets lonely at my party.... Luckily, I met a girl who appears to be in your age... She... She is really ho-Pretty..."

\- "You're just like Todd and Grayson... And that's not a compliment..."

\- "Shiiiiiiiiii.... Let me finish talking..." - He covered Damian's mouth with his finger - "You should meet her... She was also alone... You should go meet her... You know... Kiss... Do boyish things..."

\- "I'm fine... I don't need to meet any girl..."

\- "Because you're in love? Damian, then go and tell her that you like her... And she's here?" 

"There's no one in love, are you dumb? And no, there's no one I know here... Not someone who's really worth talking to and knowing, so go away..."

\- "D... If you're afraid of rejection, I can do it for you and bring my.... New pretty friend here... I don't believe it's fear, not even that you're a virgin guy scared of women, but I can help..."

\- "I'm not going to talk to you about this... Especially in this state..." - Damian snorted, pulling Tim's arm off from his shoulder. - "You should stop drinking, Drake... You'll end up embarrassed..."

\- "You shouldn't be drinking anyway, but go for it..."

\- "..."

\- "Bruce will kill me if he knows I let you drink... Alfred will probably rip my ear off..." - Tim murmured more to himself than to Damian, who just rolled his eyes and took advantage of the moment of introspection of his adoptive brother to get rid of him and his questions and inconvenient suggestions. Maybe go to the roof again and stay there for the rest of the night wasn't a bad idea...

He was even doing well in that place, Damian honestly hated crowded places with loud music and drunken people, but after that night he knew he could survive an hour or two without killing anyone... And an hour or two not having his attention turned to the sapphire-eyed girl... If he kept thinking "she wasn't so special" maybe he could live by ignoring her existence in high school as much as he could.

But the universe works in strange ways and the magnet they were both just worked in stranger ways, and Damian could hear the spinning wheels of the universe and whoever controlled his fate was laughing at how it all turned out.

Damian was walking distractedly, thinking firmly of "she's not that special" thing and his personal monologue when someone slammed him straight in front, kneading a glass full of beer between the two bodies. He prepared to say something when his muscles all caught.

\- "Don't you look where you're walking? I..." - She looked quickly and then snorted, tossing the glass into the bin without looking at him again - "Oh you got to be kidding me..."

\- "Well, you're the one who hit me..." - he grunted, trying to get back to what he had been thinking before as he wiped his hands on the wet one that had taken over his shirt.

\- "But of course you were going to put the blame on me... It was a bump, don't exist a 'guilty'..."

\- "You who hit me so yes, there are guilty..."

\- "Are you always annoying anyway or did you take a special class?"

\- "..."

\- "Whatever..." - She grunted, rolling her eyes as she stared at the wet one in her own clothes. - "Damn it! Fuck, this stinks!"

\- "You can use the bathroom upstairs if you want to wash..."

\- "No, thank you... It's no longer enough for you to have given me a beer-bath, everything I least need now is to walk around completely wet... I need to go home..."

\- "Are you rude to people trying to help and being receptive to you anyway or did you take a special class?"

\- "Fuck you..."

\- "Oh... She knows to swear now..."

\- "You have the gift of taking the worst of me... This is not a compliment..."

\- "Why do you think I'd expect compliment coming from you?"

\- "You're a petty pamper, I believe you think everything is for you and that all people love you..." - She shrugged.

\- "I'm trying to be receptive and polite as I've been taught to be, feel free to do whatever you want..."

\- "Hard to feel comfortable in a place where I know I'm not welcome..." - She grunted, rolling her eyes - "And with people I hate..."

\- "You're welcome here..." - Damian didn't notice when the phrase came out of his mouth, too soft for the little argument they were having, she drew attention from her dress to him for a few seconds - "Like your friends..."

\- "Oh, I can see the warm welcome..." - She grunted.

\- "You who said you wouldn't come... I was just surprised you came out of your protective nerd bubble..."

\- "Saw? I know when I'm not welcome..."

\- "I didn't say that..."

\- "But make it clear..."

\- "I invited you..."

\- "I would never accept anything from an idiot like you"

\- "As if I would offer you something more..."

\- "Thank you...! I don't want anything from you anyway... Nothing that is related to you..." - Raven spat the words like venom on her tongue, whom he thought was to disrupt her peace like that one more time.

She just didn't notice they were coming again, like at school. They were exactly the same distance they'd been fighting in the hall of the school last week... She could see the marks on his face again, strangely knowing each of them after spending days with the image in her mind. Her hands clenched into fist, she just didn't know if it was hatred and desire to punch him, or if she was trying to control the tingle in them by wanting to touch the marks where the lights danced in blue and red.

Wait, why did she want to touch his face?

\- "You're being a nuisance..."

\- "And you're being a child...!" - she muttered, pointing to his chest. Her eyebrows were arched, furious, almost becoming one. Her eyes brought a storm in them, like the rainy days of Gotham, blues like an ocean in fury. Her lips were half open and her breath was deep. Damian could hate her, but he wouldn't deny that she looked deathly beautiful when she was angry.

\- "You're not as grown-up as you think you are..."

\- "Idiot!"

\- "Pathetic!"

\- "Gross!"

\- "Shrew!"

\- "Stupid!" - Raven spat out the word, feeling her breath catch, her anger consuming her like gasoline and fire. She didn't know why, but he had that power over her, they always ended up having this exchange of insults in ridiculous arguments...

He always took the worst of her... And that was the second time in a week when they ended up like that, looking into each other's eyes, with a black storm cloud hovering between the two...

Damian stared into her eyes, into the tempestuous ocean of her eyes. He was falling and sinking, he could feel breathless and suffocating, but he didn't mind dying in that sea. An idiotic idea occurred to him, and at that moment he thought of nothing but the red poison that tingled her lips.

_'Heaven knows what you do to me'_

The music seemed to be the soundtrack, complementing the whole scene and Damian did not think about the consequences anymore, he just closed his eyes and let himself intoxicate.

He made a subtle but quick movement, he almost didn't see it when he did, but his hands instinctively went to the back of her neck and waist as he closed the distance between them, bumping his lips into hers. His mind was completely disconnected, he could feel his reason turn into a buzz along with the music, with the voices, with the universe around him.

_'You could chain me up or set me free'_

Damian wasn't thinking, in fact he could see all his reason being turned off, in fact he didn't know why he did that, but let himself be hypnotized by the bluish storm of her eyes, by the synchronized dance of blue and red lights on her silver skin. Damian was intoxicated by the poison her red lips promised to have.

_'You could suffocate or let me breathe'_

Raven didn't see when he decided to do this, nor did she understand why he did it. She had called him a child because he acted like a child when she lost herself in infinity that those green eyes opened for her. As in their little discussion in the hallway, Raven found herself noticing the small marks on his face, all of which gained a different glow as the red and blue lights touched them.

_'Maybe I'm crazy, I know you're danger'_

In the first instant, Raven was static and totally without reaction. Lips slammed against hers and two strong, yet gentle hands slid down her neck and waist, pulling her closer. But gradually, she felt her anger and shock being dissolved by something she did not know. The taste of beer with the scent of cinnamon permeated her whole interior and before she could get a fraction of it, her hands slid down his chest. She could feel his heart beating as fast as hers as she closed her eyes, returning the kiss, letting him explore her mouth as he wished, as she felt herself orbiting in a constellation of cinnamon, emeralds, alcohol, and hate.

_'Baby you could be the death of me'_

Raven's hands came up with a painful slowness over Damian's neck, as if she were still undecided on what to do, until they found a perfect place to rest on his shoulder. Part of her mind, a rational but very, very small part told her who she was kissing, the guy with whom she waged an endless war of insults and quarrels for two years... And that she swore with all her heart that she hated and she would hate for all her life, but that rational voice was erased when she tasted cinnamon on the tip of her tongue. She knew this was a mistake, that kiss him was a mistake.... But, she couldn't care less

_'I'm falling, fading and seeing angels'_

Stars exploded behind her eyes and she knew that wasn't possible. It was a stupid action, of a stupid boy that she hated and for some stupid reason made her respond stupidly, but she responded to the kiss and it seemed to be forever. Everything slowed around, the whole world reduced to his lips against hers. Soft and warm as she strangely remembered imagining, fierce and hungry as if she were an elixir he needed to prove to survive. She felt like a stupid little girl letting herself be carried away by a kiss from a stupid little boy that she hated.

_'Baby you could be the death of me'_

Yes, she wanted to hate him, continue to hate him the way she did for two long years. But why was she letting herself melt in his hands? Why was she so enjoying having these warm hands dangling around her waist, giving little squeaks that made her feel like a jelly?

Raven didn't have time to have all her answers, not even to wonder what she was feeling when she felt it all back to normal and saw that he was moving away, eyes closed and panting.

And as she felt herself in the air, flying through a constellation of cinnamon and beer and hate, her fall seemed too cold when he pulled away with the same surprise and quickness with which he kissed her. Raven staggered, feeling the planet spin again as fast as she could, but all of an instant flashback in her mind.

\- "I.... I'm sorry.... I didn't mean..."

\- "You... you're crazy!"

\- "Excuse me...?"

\- "You kissed me! You are crazy?"

\- "Wait! You reciprocated!"

\- "You grabbed me first!"

\- "And you returned it!"

\- "You're a... a... pervert!"

\- "What? I am not this! I didn't do anything you didn't want too!"

\- "You are..." - Raven leaned against the nearest wall, trying to control the dizziness that struck her after everything turned quickly. - "I... I don't know what happened and I don't want to know... I want to distance of you..."

\- "You returned it!" - He ran a hand through his hair. - "You didn't hesitate to kiss me...! Don't come and throw the responsibility only on me"

\- "I was too shocked to do anything, stupid..." - she snorted - "Or do you think I enjoyed kissing you?"

\- "And you think I like it? Do you think I wanted of my own free will? It was... It was alcohol!"

\- "Great! Because I would never kiss you..."

\- "I wouldn't ever kiss you..."

\- "Stay away from me, idiot..."

\- "And stay away from me, witch..."

\- "And... And... And stay away from me, jerk..." - she muttered imperiously - "Never touch the subject again, pretend it never happened... I'm going to kill you if anyone knows about this... This... This mistake we made... And Never... Never touch me again..." - Her eyes had a black storm threatening to fall and before Damian could say anything else, she passed him as he pushed him out of her way and disappearing into the small crowd of dancing bodies on the dance floor.

Damian stood for a few seconds looking where she had gone, rewinding into his mind all that had happened and trying to find a reason for what had just happened.

He hated her, 

He really hated her,

So why did he decide to kiss her?


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe I'm crazy, I know you're danger  
Baby, you could be, you could be

\- "I need to go home, Rose..."

\- "What? Why? The party just started!"

\- "I... I'm wet..." 

\- "This has a horrible double meaning, Raven... If it's in the dirty sense, you can use the condom I put in your pocket and just... be happy..."

\- "What? No... That's not it... I'm literally wet... A jerk bumped into me and I ended up knocking beer in my dress and..." - Raven took a deep breath, too confused and too messed up to be able to formulate the words clearly. Nothing was fine, she needed to walk away from that place and just erase from her mind that day had happened - "Do you know where Gar is? I really need to go home, Aunt Alice told me not to leave late and it's almost 1 am..." - Rose looked at Raven for a few seconds and took a deep breath.

\- "Okay... Let's go home..."

\- "You don't have to go with me, Rose... You can stay... I just need Gar to take me... Or I can call a cab..."

\- "And leave you alone? No way... You're not going to find Gar around here, he's probably fucking Tara or someone out there..." - She slipped her arm around Raven's shoulder, pulling her closer to her, as if to welcome her under her big sister's wings - "Besides, you walk away means all the grace of seeing you and Damian exchanging heated looks and sexual tension go away too, and that would be boring and I'd have to find someone to fuck..."

\- "Shut up, Rose..." - Raven grunted, leaning her head against her shoulder - "I don't want to... I don't want to talk about this asshole boy... Not today..."

Raven didn't want to talk about him, she had many memories in her mind that she wanted to erase and little by little, her reason was coming back. Now she thought about the mistake of kissing Damian in a fucking party... If anyone from school had seen, her life would become the own seven hells now

\- "Okay, little bird... You want to say goodbye to someone while I call the cab?" - Raven nodded no - "Okay... I'll call a cab... It will not be long, okay? And then, you tell me what Damian did..."

\- "What are you talking about?"

\- "Your mood swings have a motive... You get nervous like this just when he does something..." - Raven rolled her eyes and just breathed deeply getting rid of Rose's protective wings, pressing the buttons hard and just asking that the door open and take her away from that party, away from that building and away from Damian.

She still felt his ghost in her, the taste of cinnamon still on the tip of her tongue, the feel of his hand was still there, tightening around her waist and she swore her heart was beating louder than usual yet, but she just wanted to forget that it had happened, even though she still wondered what was that kiss. She should have pushed him, slapped him, maybe screamed and made a scene that he had grabbed her, but she just responded to the kiss and she liked how it felt in his arms...

It was the little she had drunk, she was sure of it... She had no habit of drinking alcohol, and she had drunk a few things that Rose had given her while they were at the party... The drink certainly confused her about everything and so, she corresponded to that boy's kiss, she wouldn't do it ever again... This was a detail that she would hide in the back of her mind until she completely forgot that one day, warm, soft lips made her walk by a constellation of cinnamon and emeralds.

Rose said goodbye to some of the guys that Raven didn't remember the names, tried to say goodbye to Tim, who ran from her like the devil would rush from a crucifix and returned to Raven again, saying that the taxi was already waiting for them. Raven thanked Rose mentally for not demanding too much explanation and just stepped into the elevator, finding green eyes staring at her as the door closed, taking her away from it all.

Raven took a deep breath and remained silent for a time that seemed forever to an impatient, and a little alcoholically altered, Rose Wilson. Raven simply closed in a silent bubble from the time they decided to leave as they walked out of the building that still had a sizable movement at the door and even as the taxi continued to play flat music to Raven's house. The dark-haired girl was an introspective person, but she definitely only closed like that when was about Damian bastard Wayne.

\- "Okay, I give up..." - She grunted as the taxi approached Raven's house - "Put it out..."

\- "Hmm?"

\- "What did Wayne do? Put it out..."

\- "Nothing happened, Rose..." - She grunted, hugging and shrinking in the seat - "I-I didn't even see him..."

\- "You lie very badly, Raven..." - She arched an eyebrow. - "You can fool Tara and Gar, but don't fool me... I've lived with you for a few years and I know your biggest flaw is being a bad liar."

\- "But that's it... Nothing happened..." - Raven snorted and put her hand on her chin, still looking out the window of the car, where the lights passed quickly. Rose didn't argue, Raven was a bad lie, but she kept things like nobody else. She would have to watch to maybe find out something... And Rose was a great observer.

Raven sighed once or twice, not just breathing deeply and releasing slowly, but sighing like someone who was falling. Rose watched her slide the tip of her finger down the back of her neck twice, one of the times, lingering further and giving another sigh. And then she bent her nails again, staring at the car window as if her mind weren't there.

Raven was terribly different, she wasn't just introspective, she looked... In love? But that couldn't be possible, could it? The signs there showed this but... She wasn't like this before...

No... That was something but definitely, Raven couldn't be in love... No, something like that didn't happen in such a short time when she was alone.

And there was something, her lipstick... Raven's lipstick was blurred and her lips were slightly swollen... Raven had kissed someone, but... who?

Rose started to pass the options on her mind, she could bet on Tim, that boy was running away from Rose, but he was certainly flirting with Raven... A small part wanted to bet on Damian, but those two were like dog and cat, could have kissed without a third world war to have happened? Rose doubted this.

Rose was so distracted to notice Raven that she didn't notice when the girl just paid for the cab and stood in front of the car waiting for Rose to leave...

\- "You're going to sleep here, right?" - Raven grunted, opening slowly toward the three-tiered white portal, with Rose in pursuit.

\- "Of course... We need to have a moment of girls... You have things to explain to me..."

\- "I have nothing to explain, Rose," - Raven mumbled, almost in a whisper as she opened the door, letting Rose in. - "I don't know why you think something happened..."

\- "Well, I was not saying about it but, your concern about saying nothing happened is clearly a sign that something happened..."

\- "Don't freak out..." - Raven grunted as she took the shoe up the stairs to her own room. - "Besides, I'm thinking of going back to school early, tomorrow afternoon... Maybe you could go with me..."

\- "And spend more time in that place of my own free will? Rae you definitely don't know me..."

\- "Yeap... I forgot I'm talking to you..." - She took a deep breath.

\- "And why do you want to go early? Monday is already obligatory that we are there, the Sunday you should, I don't know, take advantage to keep your head away from school, no?

\- "I have to finish Kory's homework and I didn't do algebra homework yet..."

\- "Boring......" - Rose rolled her eyes as she followed Raven into Raven's now dark and messy room.

Raven took a deep breath taking off her clothes and going to the wardrobe to get her good old purple sweater... Nothing like her natural habitat to simply forget everything that had happened at that party...

Even though she still couldn't stop repeating the kiss on her head.

Rose walked around the room taking Raven's old clothes to wear and then slipped under the covers of the girl waiting for her to decide to go to bed. Rose and Raven lay in bed talking about random things that had happened at the party, about who they met, about how courteous Tim was to Raven and about Rose chasing after him.

\- "He'll get a protective measure against you, Rose... Did you see how he panicked when you showed up?"

\- "Don't be exaggerated, Raven..." - She laughed. - "Too bad the college kids are so boring..." - She took a deep breath. - "None was interesting enough to make me want to go home with them... But I got some numbers of girls"

\- "You don't waste time, do you?"

\- "You judge me so badly, girl! But..." - She laughed - "We live once, Rae..."

\- "It's the least I expect of you, Rose..."

\- "And you?"

\- "Me what?"

\- "Don't be stupid, Raven..."

\- "I don't know what you mean by that..."

\- "Who did you kiss?"

\- "I... I didn't kiss anyone!?"

\- "I know a swollen lip for kissing from afar... And your lipstick was smudged..." - Raven took a deep breath and swallowed, staring at the ceiling

\- "You're crazy, okay... Now let's sleep... It's already late..."

\- "Wait, wait, wait... You're running away..." - Rose had a playful smile on her lips. - "Who you kissed, Raven...?"

\- "No one, Rose! Jesus, where do you get these things from?"

\- "I told you, it's no use getting away... Wait a minute, you're just so nervous when it comes to Damian Wayne! Raven you..."

\- "He kissed me first!"

\- "WHAT?" - Rose sat on the bed staring at Raven with a shocked face.

\- "Rose... Silence! You're going to wake Aunt Alice!"

\- "I knew it!" - she laughed

\- "Rose!"

\- "You kissed him? You fucking kissed fucking Damian fucking Wayne! Oh shit! Oh shit!"

\- "Why did I say that, oh my god..."

\- "You kissed Damian! Oh my fucking God, I wasn't even assuming this in my best moments!"

\- "Then forget I said that-"

\- "I was guessing you had a fight with Damian again and maybe you had kissed Timmy because you were all full of sighs in the car and he's cute and romantic so it was understandable but... Oh my god you kissed Damian Wayne!

\- "Oh..." - Raven looked at Rose who was about to have a fangirl attack.

\- "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god I knew it! He has a crush on you!"

\- "Do-don't exaggerate Rose... That's not it..."

\- "And you have one for him! I knew it! You want to fuck, you hate each other so much that you love each other... All that sexual tension between you had only one motive: you want to fuck yourself!

\- "Oh my God, Rose you turn everything into something TOO MUCH!" - Raven grunted, covering her face with her pillow.

\- "How was it? Does he kiss well? How does he kiss? My God, I want details of that! Wait, would you hide it from me? Is that why you wanted to leave? Wait there you really and truly kissed him! Why did you want to leave then? Did he do something to you? I'm going to kill that bastard..."

Raven took a deep breath and sat on the bed facing Rose, cursing herself for talking too much. There was no hiding now... All of Raven's nervousness had handed her terribly.

\- "Rose was... It was just the alcohol... I think... He grabbed me... We were arguing, not a big deal... Nothing happened and it will not happen again..."

\- "You were going to hide it from me!"

\- "Because I knew you were going to stay like this... And because I don't want to relive this... It was a mistake... It's a mistake..."

\- "The sighs said something else... Oh my god, you really are two idiots..."

\- "Rose... You have to promise not to tell anyone that... No one can know that this has happened... No one can imagine that I kissed him... I mean, he kissed me... My life would be a hell... You know how Djinn is, I'm not in the mood to be her new target... Remember when she just freaked out because Emiko was sitting next to him? That girl is a headache that I don't want..."

\- "That girl is an stupid, we'll push her off the stairs if she does something to you... And I still have my pocketknife..."

\- "Rose!"

\- "I'm being serious," - she laughed. - "And she's just an exchange student, she'll be gone soon, and you can go back to being able to exchange saliva and other body fluids with the ball of hate... And between us, she is no match for you... You're beautiful, intelligent, hot and have such false purity, but you don't give a fuck for the boys... You are the hardest prize, boys are interested in harder prizes..."

\- "Rose!"

\- "Okay ... I forgot that you are a holy and innocent girl who doesn't talk about sex..." - she laughed - "But then, I want to know the details... How did this happen? When was it? Oh my god I should have seen, taken a photo..."

\- "You promise not to tell anyone?"

\- "Okay... I promise..." - Rose said grinning, finger crossed Raven couldn't see... But of course she would tell Garfield that and they would have an evil plan to join Raven and Damian again.

Rose almost considered herself a true terrestrial, feminine and sinful version of St. Anthony, the saint of weddings. She had joined some couples at school and even, Tara and Garfield, in the first time they kissed... She was going to join Damian and Raven even if it cost her, her entire life.

She would make these two the sweetest couple in that school, even if she had to hold them both in school for a whole month and alone...

\- "I don't know what happened... We were arguing because he knocked beer on me and then I don't know what happened... I called him a kid because he was putting the blame in me for pouring the beer on us both and then, it happened..."

\- "That simple?" - Rose had an arched eyebrow. - "A kiss because you called him a child?"

\- "Yeah..."

\- "And you wanted to?"

\- "I don't know..." - Raven took a deep breath and put her hand on her face. - "I was in shock... And then I let myself go and I ended up acting on impulse and corresponding to the kiss..."

\- "Did he use his tongue? Or was it just a quick kiss in the lip vs lip style"

\- "What? Is this really important?"

\- "Yes... Did he use his tongue, Raven? Did you two give a tongue kiss or was it a crude kiss from a five-year-old?"

\- "Oh... Mmmm... Yes..." - Raven mumbled, begging for a hole or maybe the world would end for her to get rid of it - He... He... I... Uhnn... We we kissed a... a tongue kiss..."

\- "And the hands? Did you stand with your hands stopped or take advantage of each other? Which I doubt, oh my god Raven, my baby friend and sister, kissed Damian Wayne, hottest and richest boy in school, right off with tongues dancing in each other's mouths!"

\- "Rose!"

\- "Okay, answer the question, where did your hands stay?"

\- "Is important? What is it? Why are you asking me that?"

\- "Yes, it is important... As you said you don't know if you wanted so I am drawing my conclusions based on your information..." - Rose answered bored - "Now answer... The hands...?" - Rose shook her hands in the air.

\- "Yeah, he held my waist tight... And my neck..."

\- "And yours?"

\- "Hmm... My hands...? Hmm... They... They stayed on his chest... And then I just made the normal way..."

\- "OH MY GOD RAVEN DID YOU TOUCH HIS DICK?"

\- "WHAT? No! No! You....? Oh my God Rose, no... No I-" - Raven shook her head quickly, too nervous to be able to say that she had placed her hands on his chest and abdomen, yeah, but not below that - "Oh my god Rose, no... I definitely... I didn't do this" - She hadn't noticed that she was panting until then.

\- "Oh my god for a second I thought you had touched him... Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" - Rose waved her hand, staring up at the ceiling - "You would surprise me too much if you had held his cock."

\- "I meant the normal way through his neck, no... this..."

\- "Holy fuck..." - Rose grunted, staring at the ceiling, then looked at Raven. - "You scared the shit out of me, Rae... But... If you returned the kiss, you exchanged saliva and you let him squeeze you and you hugged him so you wanted to, Raven... And that's normal..." - Rose shrugged and laid down again on Raven's side. - "He's hot despite being an irritant, there's nothing wrong with wanting to kiss him..." - Raven rolled her eyes.

\- "You and Tara drool over a normal guy..." - Raven took a deep breath, biting her lower lip - "He's normal... Like any other kid in high school..."

\- "So, what would be extraordinary for you, Raven?"

\- "I don't know..." - Raven took a deep breath and lay down again, her mind reliving every memory. His warm, soft lips, the taste of cinnamon and beer, his heartbeat against her fingertips, the texture of his shirt at the tips of her fingers.

Raven hadn't noticed until then how that shirt drew his breastplate very well, even though she still felt the ghost of his warmth on her fingers... Raven hadn't noticed until then how the tips of her fingers slipped across his chest, how her fingers traced dangerous paths to his chest and then they found perfect places on the back of his neck or how the soft and at the same time strong grip on her waist made her shiver.

Suddenly Raven felt herself hot...

Since when was San Francisco so hot...?

\- "Raven? Hello! Earth calling Raven!?" - Rose snapped her fingers in front of Raven's eyes.

\- "...What?"

\- "You just hung up for a few seconds and stood there, staring at nothing and sighing... Again..."

\- "I... I was thinking about the algebra lesson... Hmm... I think I'm hung over... I need a glass of water..." - Raven grunted, rising quickly, sliding off the bed

\- "Oh... What a quick hangover? You drank so little..."

\- "Yeah... Eh... I'm weak for that..." - Raven ran to the bathroom taking a good sip of water from the sink and then wiped a wet hand on the back of her neck, trying to return to acceptable body temperature before Rose started to assume things.

It was just warm, right? A normal San Francisco heat

Raven closed her eyes, breathing slowly for a few seconds, then decided to go back to the bedroom and sleep before Rose could get any more stupid conclusions from her head. Raven didn't want to remember that kiss, didn't want to remember what it was like to be wrapped in strong, soft hands, what it was to be kissed by soft and warm lips, nor what it was like to imagine him as her mind wanted to imagine, much less remember what it was like to be wrapped in cinnamon and beer taste...

Oddly enough she could feel even the scent of his cologne perfectly... Raven caught herself remembering it now, in the coldness and darkness of her own little bathroom.

\- "Are you alive, Rae? Are you throwing up or need some help?"

\- "I'm fine... I'm alive and well..." - Raven growled back into the bedroom.

\- "So you're going to tell me what it was like to kiss him..." - Rose grunted as Raven curled up with her blanket, hugging the pillow

\- "I told you I didn't see how it happened, Rose... Just... happened.... He kissed me, I kissed back... end of story..."

\- "Yeah, I'm talking about an area that is not mine, the sentimental area, Raven... You're all romantic and dreamy"

\- "No, I'm not..." 

\- "Whatever... I want to know how it was for you to kiss him... What you felt... The taste, the smell, the feeling... You've got a head too far since we came back from the party, it was not 'just' a kiss for you..."

\- "I didn't feel anything, Rose... And I already said everything that happened..."

\- "Okay, but you didn't tell me if he kissed well... I don't want to have to try to know if it's good or bad... It's your thing now, it's not nice a friend to tinker in another's drawer...

\- "You can be at ease, Rose... I don't mind... To tell you the truth, I don't want to remember that, it was a moment... That I'll erase it from my mind..."

\- "Was it that bad?"

\- "I will not answer this..."

\- "You're running"

\- "I already said that I want to forget.."

\- "Then it was bad..."

\- "I didn't say this"

\- "So be honest, was it a bad kiss or not?"

\- "Not..."

\- "Ah!"

\- "But I don't want to remember, I don't like him, he doesn't like me, we are like water and oil... Simple like that and on Monday everything will come back as before... That kiss was... It was just... Just alcohol taking control of our actions..."

\- "Oh, someone shouldn't be sleeping now. HAHAHAHA, I can't believe I made him mad for you inside that dress..."

\- "Rose, no... There's nothing like this..."

\- "You think I didn't see him watching you? Didn't you really see him staring at you? I just didn't expect him to take the first step..."

\- "Good night, Rose..." - Raven grunted with her eyes closed, struggling to sleep.

But the truth is that the more she tried not to think about what Rose was saying, the more she remembered little details of Damian... Some details she didn't even know if they had been real or if her mind was now playing with her.

\- "This, little Rae, run away... It's just what the innocent and brave do... they run away..."- Rose laughed. - "But you can't deny it, you've shocked the two Wayne boys... And that's going to be so interesting to see..."

\- "Two?" - Raven opened her eyes, arching her eyebrow.

\- "Oh Timmy was flirting with you, Raven..."

\- "Rose he was just being kind..."

\- "Men aren't kind for nothing, Raven... Not even the pure and chaste Tim Drake..."

\- "Rose you-"

\- "You can't deny that he's cute, Raven..."

\- "Rose... Hmm... You remember he's like... Older?"

\- "AND?"

\- "It's wrong!"

"Oh, come on, Raven? He's nice, handsome, respectful... He and Damian are like hm... Two sides of the same coin... A very valuable and beautiful coin, by the way..." - Rose laughed

\- "I thought you wanted Tim for you, not for pushing him for me."

\- "Of course I want to sit in that innocent face... But I can leave a little bit for you... If you split the ball of hate with me..."

\- "Rose shut up..."

\- "I'm not saying anything you didn't ask..." - Rose growled laughing and Raven took a deep breath trying to ignore Rose again. - "But okay... I'll shut up my precious mouth... You can handle your jealousy..."

\- "Fuck you... And stop thinking about boys... And good night, go to sleep..."

No, she didn't want problems with that family.  
In fact she wanted stay away from anyone who had a connection with Wayne's name  
Even if she found Tim Drake a little cute  
Even if her chest burned thinking about the damn kiss

Raven took a deep breath and closed her eyes again, oh shit tonight would be hard to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I’m falling, fading and seeing angels  
Baby you could be the death of me

The noise of the party was still loud and he had to lock the bedroom door after two couples came in thinking it was empty, but none of it disturbed and messed him up more than what has happened at that party.

Damian struggled for a few minutes between going after her and apologizing for being an idiot for kissing her or just ignoring everything and just accepting that she had kissed him too and if she was blaming him, she would be guilty too... 

He stayed in this mental debate until he saw her get into the elevator and her eyes were the last thing he saw before it closed, taking her away from that party. Damian always for some reason, which he thought was too stupid, was drawn like a fly to the light, to those blue sapphire eyes... And that was the last thing he saw when the doors closed, leading her away.

Damian tried to focus a little more at the party, tried to have fun again as he had before, but just couldn't shake off the red poison the sapphire-eyed girl had on her lips. It had been a mistake to kiss her, but he had never felt so good about making a mistake.

Her skin was as soft as cotton just as he imagined it, the scent of lavender wasn't just his imagination and he could really swear it came from her hair and the ghostly touch of her fingertips, a touch so soft and yet warm as the desert sun, tracing a path of flame that followed down in his belly even when she placed her hands on the back of his neck, playing and losing herself in his hair.

It was still impregnated in his mind as she just responded to the kiss so hotly that he thought he might have burns on his body if he had taken some more of that poison she offered him... 

She was also to blame on the kiss and she was guilty of him being in that situation now... 

It was impregnated and imprinted on him, like an invisible mark on him and he needed to get it off ... Damian closed his eyes as he sank his teeth into his lower lip, wishing it was her lips there, that she was in his room, in his bed, on top of him instead of having to solve it himself... He didn't like to stoop so low and he didn't want to think about it, about her, but here, it was almost impossible not to get carried away by the amount of images he didn't even remember seeing bombarding his mind. He could almost see her there and he was sure he was going crazy.

That kiss had been a mistake, he was now a mistake, and his own body, lit with desire, was a mistake.

Now, in the darkness of his bedroom, Damian was haunted by those eyes, that skin, those poisonous red lips, these flames, and everything else that had happened as he got rid of that warm feeling in his body. He had his pride, he didn't bend easily to the desires of the flesh, but that had been just too much for him. And he had been holding on for a long time... He had learned to control his wants and desires, but today, after kissing and having her against him, her hands against his chest and abdomen and neck, he has reached his limit... 

Tim was right, he was a man, a teenager and a human after all...

If his mother were alive, if his grandfather were alive and saw him so weak and defeated over a girl now they would probably punish him in the worst possible way, and maybe he deserved to be punished for it, but he was trying to tell himself that it was just that once, and it would never happen again.

Stars exploded behind his eyes and he let out a breath he had been holding and couldn't remember as he let out a muffled moan from his own arm, the sound of the party was still heard and the voices were still loud but he didn't need that his brother would make a situation with all family members if by chance he found out what he was doing there. He just wanted to stop thinking about her and not having a body full of stupid bubbling hormones, and right now, there seemed to be no other solution but to do that.

Damian stood staring at the bedroom ceiling for a few seconds, his breathing and body returning to normal at the same speed as he began to think of his actions. Everything had been so messy that day and he didn't want it anymore... The next day, he would do anything but think about this party.

He hoped that the following Monday things would return to normal, with her being the annoying girl with pretty sapphire eyes, cotton skin, night-black hair and a good annoying girl attitude. Everything would be back to normal and that episode would be a vague, blurred memory of a party with a lot of alcohol that he stupidly tried to attend.

Damian crawled out of bed taking off his clothes and tossing in the laundry basket as he walked into an icy bath. It would help with his alcohol and his body temperature and maybe that way he could sleep. He let the cold water fall for as long as he could on his back and head to be able to relax and then got out of the shower and lay on the bed exactly as he was, wrapped in only a towel, not bothering to wear anything, after all he felt tired and bored 

He started thinking about just being wrapped in a towel downstairs with at least almost 100 people, but it was his room and the room was locked, no one would come in there.

He threw himself on the bed, running his hand over his face, leaving his eyes closed to silence the annoying buzz in the back of his mind. The cold shower relaxed his muscles and head but he was in no mood to go back to the party and the laughter of drunk people and loud sound... Getting some sleep and returning to school early seemed a good plan for a weekend when he was still thinking about the consequences and the pros and cons... 

A quiet, quiet Sunday in the school library seemed too tempting even here in the middle of the night.

Damian was still staring at the ceiling thinking too much, just as he always did, and trying to organize his thoughts and finding a pattern in them... But as far as he could tell, they all ended up in Raven Roth's red lips and he didn't want to feel that heat run through every nerve of his again...

He definitely didn't need it again.

Damian took a deep breath and just pulled the covers over his body, not thinking much about wearing something and letting himself go through the darkness of dreams, completely clearing his thoughts. He knew that when he woke up he would be better and have other things to worry about. He soon fell asleep, even with the sound of the loud party downstairs, the sound of breaking glass and someone moaning too loudly in a nearby room and as far as he remembered, dreamed of nothing but beautiful sapphire eyes, but woke up with some punches on the bedroom door and an annoying voice of Tim Drake on the other side asking if he was alive and well. Damian took a deep breath rubbing his eyes and got up walking to unlock the door and finding a smiling Tim.

\- "What?"

\- "Good morning, little brother..". - He laughed

\- "Ah spare me the irritation early on, Drake..."

\- "It's not irritation, Damian... It's just manners... Alfred would rip your ear off if he saw that you're being rude early on..."

\- "...."

\- "Hmm... Did you sleep alone?"

\- "And why wouldn't I sleep alone, Drake?"

\- "You disappeared at the party yesterday, I thought you found someone... I don't know, some girl brought you to bed..." - Damian looked at Tim for a few seconds before rolling his eyes and walking back to the bathroom to your morning ritual - "What Dami...? You disappear into the party and open the door wrapped in a towel... I thought..."

\- "You thought wrong again... And that doesn't surprise me... A girl bumped into me and spilled beer on my clothes, I had to take a shower and was already too tired to go back to a stupid party... Nothing much..." - Damian grunted from the bathroom, no, Tim didn't need to know that after dropping beer on him, he had kissed this girl...

And that the results of this was disastrous...

\- "Mmmm... Whatever..." - He shrugged - "But I have news..."

\- "What, Drake...?"

\- "Jason is coming to San Francisco..." - Tim snorted - "And Dick too..."

\- "I'm going back to school early this afternoon... I have things to do..."

\- "Jason said Alfred wants to make an announcement and we all have to be here... It's about Bruce..."

\- "It sure is some irrelevant stupidity... If it was something big or serious we would already know...."

\- "Aren't you wanting to know?"

\- "No... Having to spend a few more hours with you three sharing a half neuron and gossiping like three little high school girls... Definitely no..."

\- Damian..." - Tim had an arched eyebrow and a smile on his face - "You're in high school..."

\- "Exactly why I say that you look exactly like girls gossiping..." - Damian took a deep breath and left the bathroom if already practically dressed again - "You can talk to my father to tell me the news later by a video call, I'm sure it's not something that demands my presence here..."

\- "Okay..." - Tim raised his hands up in the grin, seeing a Damian too busy arranging things in the room to stop and look at Tim with a bored look.

\- "What?"

\- "Mmmm... Nothing..."

\- "Then you can leave my room..." - Damian took a deep breath

\- "Okay..." - Tim held back a laugh and turned to walk to the bedroom door while Damian just looked at him without understanding - "But you have to stay... Orders of Alfred, you know how family Sundays are important... And you have to help me with yesterday's party mess before they arrive..."

\- "It was your party... No one sent you to invite San Francisco all over..."

"I didn't invite all of San Francisco... And you brought friends too... And girl friends... What was her name again? Rachel... Raven! This, Raven Roth... Do you know any Raven Roth?" - Damian almost dropped everything he was holding to the floor.

First, why was he asking about her? He was older, much older than her... Right?

Second, would Tim have seen them kiss? Damian was starting to think about how stupid it was to do that at a party with his brother and high school people.

He was definitely stupid

\- "Damian? Are you alright?"

\- "Of course... Why wouldn't I be?" - Damian took a deep breath, obviously Tim was playing with him ... He wouldn't have had peace to return to his room yesterday if he had seen the two kissing, right?

Right?

\- "I don't know... You got all weird when I said that name... By chance-"

\- "No..." - Damian just said - "I don't know any Raven Roth..."

\- "Are you sure? I think I saw you-"

\- "I said I don't know any Roth, Tim... You were drunk... You must have imagined something..."

\- "But you didn't even let me finish saying what I saw..."

\- "Drake, whatever the fuck you think you saw didn't happen, I don't know anyone named Raven Roth and surely wouldn't say if I did... You're wanting to rub with a teenager, this is disgusting"

\- "Mmmm... Okay... If you don't know, okay..." - He nodded his head slowly - "But I met a Raven Roth yesterday and she was very pretty, this i'm sure... I think she was from your school, she was too young to be in college... She had long black hair, blue eyes, full lips and a black dress and was with that girl Wilson ... She's really pretty..."

\- "And you can't hold on to your pants because of a schoolgirl?"

\- "I didn't say that..."

\- "You detailed it, this is deplorable..." - Damian rolled his eyes - "She is younger than you, just turned 17... That's disgusting..."

\- "How do you know she just turned 17 if you said you don't know any Roths?" - Damian looked at Tim and took a deep breath.

Yes, he was an idiot...

Yes, Tim wouldn't let it pass...

Yes, Damian was fucked for saying too much...

\- "I... That's an assumption, Drake... If she's in the same school as me and knows Wilson, she probably must have just turned 17..."

\- "You didn't suppose, Damian... You said... They are two different things..."

\- "Get out of my room, I've got things to do instead of wasting my time on stupid gossip from an underage girl predator..."

\- "But I just complimented her, Damian... Why are you so defensive?"

\- "I'm not defensive... And get out of my room, I won't ask again..."

\- "Mmm..." - Tim was looking at him with a raised eyebrow - "No matter, anyway... She disappeared before I had any way of contact her..." - Oh he had a way of contact with her - "If you see a girl with these characteristics..."

\- "A high school girl isn't too young for you, Drake?"

\- "I'm 20, Damian... I'm not an old man..."

\- "Still ... They're underage ... That's a nasty attitude of a sexual predator... You're acting exactly like Todd... And that's not a compliment..."

\- "Speaking of me, dear?" - Jason's voice echoed somewhere in the apartment making Tim and Damian jump at the same time.

\- "Great, the gorilla brain has just arrived..."

\- "How did he get in?"

\- "You turned off the security protocols from the Penthouse, Drake... Or did you forget that people came in yesterday?"

\- "Oh..."

\- "Substitute? Gremlin?"

\- Finish whatever you have to do in this room and go to the living room... We have to clean up yesterday's mess and prevent Jason from stealing anything important from here or leaving the wine House empty...

\- "TT." - Damian rolled his eyes and took a deep breath, watching Tim turn his back and leave the bedroom shouting at Jason not to call him a substitute and drop the whiskey bottle.

Damian took advantage that Tim was too preoccupied with becoming a nanny with Jason and decided to tidy up his own room as slowly as he could, Damian was good-natured and organized most of the time, but he wanted to avoid the presence of his foster brothers that Sunday...

Now he was more sorry than ever to go to the San Francisco penthouse that weekend, from the beginning it had been a stupid idea, and now spending an entire Sunday with Tim Drake, Jason Todd, and Dick Grayson looked like a kind of punishment for what he had done the night before...

Yes, Damian was beginning to think that spending a whole Sunday with his brothers was a punishment for masturbating and honestly, everything seemed to fall into place now.

Damian finished organizing his room, removed the sheets from the bed, organized his suitcase, and in the end, he had nothing more to do to avoid contact with his brothers, just decided to read a little before being forced to go hear such news about whatever his father wanted to announce. Damian was reading quietly lying in his bed when he heard Dick arrive and was halfway through the book when he heard whispers and a Jason laugh out loud.

He took a deep breath as he prepared to send them shut the fuck up when he heard his name being said among the whispers. Damian rolled his eyes and hid at the top of the stairs, just to hear what his brothers were saying and if it had anything to do with the party the night before... So he would know what to expect from the three older brothers.

\- "I'm serious, I was a little distant... And a little altered... But I saw... He kissed a girl and then took refuge in his room the rest of the night..."

\- "I can't believe the gremlin ran away from a girl... did he really run from having sex with a girl? Wait... Is he gay? Was he jerking off while there was a party down here full of girls who would do it for him? And even more?"

\- "Jason..." - Dick's voice was heard as Jason's laugh got louder. - "No problem if he's gay... Well, that means Bruce needs to talk to him. We got so used to it that D was a kid that we forgot about this... Detail..."

\- "I don't think it's a problem if the boy like boys, Dick... Just... I think it's funny..."

\- "He assured me that he isn't gay, the point here is not that... The point is, I think he is having trouble accepting this... Phase... - Tim grumbled and was silent for a few seconds - "But I saw he was kissing a girl yesterday and I tried to get it out of him but he kicked me out of the room ... and today he was ... weird..

\- "But was he kissing or KISSING, Tim? There is a difference between just kissing and making out..."

\- "It was dark, Jason..." - Tim grumbled irritably - "But... They were probably making out, I never saw him lock himself in the room so quickly and look, he was even having fun at the party... Drinking and participating of conversations..."

\- "Okay, someone needs to give him some magazines... And condoms..."

\- "Oh... Gross"

\- "Okay, no one's going to give him playboy magazines, okay, Jason? Unless he asks... And just after we talk to him about safe sex..."

\- "The boy needs, you know, to unleash his imagination..."

\- "Jason, no...!" - Dick took a deep breath - "Okay, that's embarrassing... I think Bruce is better for this conversation..."

\- "Dick, are you really sure about that? Bruce has no way of having a conversation with himself about sex, who knows to talk about feeling horny kissing a girl! Do you remember the trauma we had to talk to Bruce about it..."

\- "Oh... Don't even remember that... Definitely Bruce is not good with children..."

\- "One of us have to talk to him about... Those occasions..." - Tim took a deep breath

\- "So what we're guessing here is that the boy is having problems with masturbation?" Jason grunted. - "And he probably got a hard-on while kissing a girl and went to jerk off instead of taking the girl to the bedroom and fuck her?"

\- "You simplified a lot but yes..."

\- "Oh, man... He'll learn by himself to jerk off... Body and need make a man learn one way or the other..."

\- "Jason, the biggest problem here is that little D has entered the sexual phase and has NO ONE to explain to him... Do you really trust Talia to explain this to him one day?"

\- "Oh... Now I get it..." - Jason scratched his head - "And no, I don't believe Talia explained it to him... In fact now it makes sense... I think he might rather jerk off than fuck a real girl for the trauma of some stupid Talia's teaching..."

\- "Yeah... It could be..." - Dick muttered - "Anyway, someone needs to talk to him about condoms and explain that it's okay to feel horny... We don't want a Damian miniature walking around"

\- "Don't look at me..." - Jason muttered - "I'm not good with words of advice..."

\- "And he would probably kill you, Jason..."

\- "Alfred would be a great person for this kind of conversation and Damian wouldn't have a bout of wanting to kill him, but how are we going to talk to Alfred that Damian arrived at this stage? Like, I imagine Alfred already knows because Alfred is amazing and knows everything, but how we say 'hey Alfred, how about you talk about erection, masturbation and sex with Damian?' To ALFRED....!"

\- "Bruce was going to send him to train to put a condom on the cucumber" - Jason grunted between laughs

\- "Oh... No..."

\- "I tried... But both times I talked about the girl he kicked me out of the room..."

\- "So is there really a special girl?" - Jason mumbled

\- "I don't know, he talked vaguely about a girl and I think she might be the same, a high school girl and it seems like they don't get along... Things seem to be really tense between them, I've never seen that boy so... Nervous... Talking about someone... Repeating a few times that she 'wasn't special...'" - Damian's eyebrows were so close that the muscles of his forehead began hurting, were they really talking about him like he was some little boy? - "But the girl is really... Attractive... Let's say like this... I don't feel good talking about her any other way"

\- "Hot... Say it in all letters, Tim... H-o-t!"

\- "Damian is right, being compared to you is not a compliment..."

\- "Whatever..." - Dick muttered - "I can try to talk to him... But I need a reason, if he finds out we are discussing this here he will close in his shell again and we will have to appeal to Bruce..."

\- "Great..." - Tim grunted - "So let's just... Scatter and then, you know... Whatever you have to do..."

\- "If the 3 gossips girls can whisper less I appreciate it, it's disturbing me to read..." - Damian grumbled sitting at the top of the stairs, with a bored tone of voice, as he saw 3 men jump scared

\- "Jesus Christ!" - Jason mumbled

\- "Mmmm, hi D..."

\- "How long have you been there?"

\- "Long enough to listen to the foolishness of you three..."

\- "Long enough?"

\- "Yes..." - Damian muttered rolling his eyes - "So if you can stop gossiping, I need to finish an important reading for a school work from Grayson's ex girlfriend, I appreciate..."

\- "Gremlin, today is Sunday... Who does school work on Sunday?"

\- "I do, Todd..." - Dick looked at Jason and then at Tim and then took a deep breath and without saying anything walked up the stairs to Damian, who kept watching.

\- "How is Kory?"

\- "Apparently, well..." - Damian raised his eyebrows - "Why are you asking me this? Not happy with Gordon?"

\- "Hmmm, just curious... Ahnn, Hey D... Come on... Let's talk... How about? So the two idiots will return to the winery war..."

\- "Grayson, I honestly don't care what they're going to do, and I'm not patient to talk to you whatever stupidity you have to say..." - Damian rolled his eyes. "I just want you to stop making noise, I have schoolwork to do..."

\- "Damian, this conversation will happen sometime and believe me ... You'd rather it's me and not Bruce or one of the idiots down there..." - Damian snorted, taking a deep breath and looking at the other two under the stairs. Tim had his fingers up and a supportive smile on his face that made him stupid and Jason pretended to be fucking a pillow that made him more stupid than Tim... 

He really and definitely would rather spend a lifetime without having to listen to Jason talking about sex and Tim had a 5 year old mind. Dick was more malleable and would probably say something sugary and stupid that Damian could ignore.

Damian rolled his eyes and just nodded, getting up to follow Dick to the bedroom.

But Dick was pretty convincing, and if that made Jason stop imitating being on the rooftop furniture, Damian could have some stupid conversation while pretending to be listening to what Dick was saying.

\- "Hmm... So how was the party yesterday?"

\- "Stupid..."

\- "Did you have fun?"

\- "Is that really important?"

\- "I just want to know how the party went, D... If you had fun and met someone..."

\- "I didn't know anyone... Satisfied?" - Damian raised an eyebrow. - "Not in that sense you're thinking..."

\- "Well, you don't want to make this conversation easier and more casual so I'll have to use the dialogue Bruce used with me..." - Dick took a deep breath and crossed his arms over his chest - "Hmmm... When we hit a right... age... our body starts to change and-"

\- "Grayson, you don't have to treat me like a child..."

\- "I'm not ... I'm trying to have a big brother talk here, I don't want to use the dialogue of 'you put your bagel in a girl's oven,' or 'you stick your flash drive in the girl's USB port' for God's sake..." - Dick muttered

\- "For all that is most sacred don't say this again..."

\- "Saw? You would prefer it to be with me and in a casual way..."

\- "I'm not a child!"

\- "The reason for this conversation is far from a conversation to have with a child... But it is important to avoid a child at undesirable moments..."

\- "No need... There's no... Action... Happening..."

\- "So you really didn't have sex with anyone? Are you a virgin, little D...!?"

\- "Why wouldn't I be, Grayson? Why would I have had sex with anyone?" - He arched an eyebrow - "My father stuck me in a boarding school, I don't know if you remember... And I'm not like you three..."

\- "Go for me, boarding school are no excuses," - Dick grunted laughing. - "My first fuck was-"

\- "I don't want to know..." - Damian interrupted shaking his head - "Look... I don't know what Drake said he saw, he was drunk... You don't need to talk about any sexual stupidity with me..."

\- "Damian... You know we'll have this conversation whether you want it or not, right? You must have doubts about... Your body changes, unexpected and unwanted reactions... And wishes you didn't have before..."

\- "Grayson I'm 17 years old... This conversation makes no sense..."

\- "I know we should have talked to you before, at 13 or 14, which is when girls look prettier than they were before, but... We used to the idea that you were a reserved child we didn't see you grow up in. But, I'll clear your doubts..."

\- "Grayson I have no doubt, okay? My mother already taught me what I had to teach... Sex is reproduction and all..."

\- "I figured she did that..." - Dick rolled his eyes. - "Sex is reproduction, but it's not just reproduction. Look." - Dick took a deep breath and sat on the bed facing Damian - "Sex is about trust, about pleasure and trust ... You trust each other enough to have that level of intimacy and it's even better if the first one is with someone you like ... It makes all the difference ... Girls believe in the first magic fuck with the dream boy, but I'm sorry to say that... The first fuck is nothing magical, uncomfortable and can be disastrous especially for the girl... But it can be pleasurable for both... And then we come to the second point, erection and masturbation..."

\- "Oh fuck..." - Damian put his hand on his face

\- "Your body is changing, it is normal to feel hot in some parts... Unfortunately this accompanies us for the rest of life and... It happens at the worst times for senseless reasons... The important thing is to know that all boys and most girls masturbate... It's important to know each other and know what satisfies you and gives you pleasure..."

\- "Grayson... Is this really a sex class?" - Damian snorted defeated

\- "Yes... You have in mind what your mother taught you and it's stupid to think that you will only have sex when you have children..."

\- "I know, I... I know..."

\- "And well, And sex is about intimacy, trust and pleasure... It's not just thrust, thrust, thrust and then cum on the girl... You have to learn to pleasure her too, she also has to be on the same wavelength otherwise it's not good for either..."

\- "Damn... Okay, okay... I get it" - Damian grunted in defeat - "Please... Just end this conversation..."

\- "Who was the girl? The one at the party...?"

\- "What?"

\- "The party girl... Who is she? You know her? Do you like her?"

\- "There was no girl..."

\- "Tim saw you kiss a girl..."

\- "He was drunk and it was dark, he could have seen anyone and thought it was me..."

\- "Damian, has no problem kissing a girl, you can lower the fences..." - Dick gave a friendly smile and Damian wanted to jump from the window, he knew that would happen - "And it is normal to get excited about it... Remember if than I said: it happens at the worst times..."

And now he wanted to throw Tim Drake out the window

\- "Just..." - Damian took a deep breath holding the bridge of his nose - "Let me read my book, okay? It's a huge schoolwork on this book, I have an essay for it..."

\- "Not before we talk about girls... And boys if you prefer..."

\- "Fuck, how many times do I have to say I'm not gay?" - Damian muttered rolling his eyes

\- "I'm just opening options..."

\- "'You never showed up with a girl' I already know you'll say that..." - Damian snorted - "That doesn't mean I'm gay..."

\- "And it's okay not to be... To like them either or not like either... Just talk to us, buddy... If you have this conversation with Bruce it will be more traumatizing than with us..."

\- "If I tell you, will you leave me alone and not talk about it anymore?"

\- "I can't promise but let's go..."

\- "Great, I'll tell you what happened... No big deal, okay?" - He took a deep breath - "I don't like her, she doesn't like me... We never worked and we barely know each other... But yesterday because of alcohol we kissed... This is what happened..."

\- "So there's this girl who... Theoretically you don't like her?"

\- "It's not theoretically, I don't like her! - He grunted irritably - "She's a good girl and... And I tried to be nice to her because well, we're in the student union so it's good we have a healthy relationship and she... She just makes me extremely angry..."

\- "So what happened? Did she kiss you without your permission?"

\- "No... She wouldn't do that... She is a good girl, I said... I never saw her with any other boy than Logan..."

\- "And you're so jealous of this Logan?" - Damian lifted his head to look at Dick with an arched brow.

\- "Can you stop making stupid assumptions? I'll never be jealous of Logan, this is ridiculous..."

\- "Okay, I'm just trying to figure out what happened at the party yesterday... Tim was worried that you locked yourself in the room..."

\- "..."

\- "Was she your first kiss?"

\- "No, of course not... How stupid..." - Damian scowled.

\- "Hmmm... So you kissed even if you didn't like each other and...?"

\- "Richard, please don't make me say that out loud..." - Damian muttered crossing his arms. - "It's really... shameful... I should know how to control myself in situations like this..."

\- "Okay, now we're getting to a place..." - Dick smiled - "And there's nothing embarrassing, Damian... Your mother made you think that because she wanted to make you a cold and calculating killer, without feelings... But you are human and your body will give in, no matter what training you have had one day..."

\- "But it was stupid... She just... She just touched me..."

\- "Oh..." - Dick raised an eyebrow. - "Did she touched you...?"

\- "That's stupid..." - He took a deep breath with his hands in the eyes without paying attention to what Dick was saying - "No other girl happened like this or what happened yesterday... She just needed... Just needed to touch me... It's just stupid all this and it's the alcohol blame... I don't like her, but then she comes into the room and everything what I can see is her..."

\- "Are you sure you don't like her?" - He laughed - "You're looking very much in love with her..."

\- "Don't be stupid, I don't like her and it comes from long two years... It's those stupid teenage hormones and that school uniform..."

\- "Oh those school uniforms drive any man crazy, right? It's pretty hard not to get out of hand with those pleated skirts dancing sideways and those badly buttoned button blouses..."

\- "But it was alcohol's fault, it won't happen again..."

\- "Okay... If you want to blame alcohol, let it be alcohol ... But if happen again don't blame yourself if you need to relieve... And we'll buy you condoms... Sex has to always be safe..."

\- "I know..." - Damian grunted opening the drawer showing 3 or 4 condom packages stored in a hidden corner - "I've done it..."

\- "Wait, have you bought condoms by yourself?"

\- "And why not?"

\- "Didn't you say sex is just reproduction? Why do you have condoms stored in your things...? And it doesn't just have to be in your drawer, D...! You always have to carry with you... You always have to carry with you... You never know when alcohol will take you beyond just a masturbation again..."

\- "Ahnn... Whatever you are thinking she didn't touch me like this..."

\- "But you said she touched you, that with no other girl this happened I thought she really touched you, you know... I thought she masturbated you..."

\- "No...! Oh my god, no!" - Damian had a slight pink tone in the ears and cheeks - "She... She didn't do this..."

\- "Ah..." - Dick took a deep breath - "Anyway... Great that you already bought condoms, but they have to be kept with you ... In the wallet or pocket ... You never know when you will need ... You will not want to stop what you are doing to go buy a condom, go for me... And you will not want to be afraid of an unwanted pregnancy... And you have to know how to put it in your... You know..."

\- "Grayson I know, okay? No need to worry about... Security..." - Damian took a deep breath - "Is that all you had to talk about?"

\- "Mmmm... No..." - Dick laughed - "Let's see if you really know"

\- "I won't put a condom on now, Richard!"

\- "And I don't even want to..." - He laughed. - "Bruce would have you train with some penis-like vegetable, but... I find that ridiculous, but you have to be prepared..."

\- "Richard please, no..." - Damian took a deep breath and put his hand on his face again.

\- "But we can leave for another moment... I think for now it was enough..."

\- "Fine... Now can I please go back to my book?"

\- "Okay... - Dick smiled - "But can I give you some advice...?"

\- "Whatever..."

\- "If you feel all this for this girl, but you don't know her, well ... You might be surprised when you find out that maybe you can feel something more than just hatred for her..." - Damian took a deep breath - "If she makes you look like this, she must be someone special..."

\- "What.ever Grayson..."

\- "Okay... Don't forget I'm here if you need advice on girls and if you need to relieve yourself, it's okay to jerk off... It's super normal..."

\- "Bye, Grayson..." - Damian muttered without looking at Dick, wanting a crack to open in the floor and pull him inside.

When Dick left the room, Damian sank into the pillows with the book on his face, but in the end it was just good to take that blame off his back, even if he still found it a waste of time for someone like him. Damian felt light despite the embarrassment of assuming what he had done.

In his upbringing Damian had spent a lifetime hearing that carnal desires were only a distraction for weak men and that he had to learn to control it, that masturbation was the lowest a man could achieve in his miserable life and that sex was as much a weapon as just used to have heirs and keep the Al Ghul empire strong as it was and now he had just heard the opposite.

It was strange to see that there was another side to every day he spent with the Wayne

Damian spent the rest of the day studying in his room, sometimes leaving just to go to the bathroom or eat something. When he heard his brothers saying Alfred had called.

The surprise hit them all when Bruce appeared across the screen hugging with none other than Selina Kyle, an old Gotham billionaire romance announcing the engagement to the 4 guys. Damian could barely hold back the worry as he saw the smiling woman beside his father, he had already heard about Selina's fame being a thief and Damian feared it was a new act of the beautiful woman with short black hair and winding curves.

Bruce announced that the four boys would be his groomsmen in less than four months and Selina had the brilliant idea to suggest that they all bring a date.

Damian hated this idea, he didn't want this wedding, he didn't want to have a date for this wedding, for God's sake... He didn't want any of that.

It was almost dusk when the boy decided it was time to go back to school, he couldn't focus on schoolwork with Jason jumping around the apartment and shouting and asking dumb questions about girls and sex.

Damian arrived at the school it was already night and the stars were already shining along with the full and pale moon in the sky.

Pale in a way that reminded her...

_Fuck_


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Do you ever see what you do to me?

Raven rolled over in bed, staring at the ceiling as she listened to Tara's sleepy breath on the next bed. They had arranged to go back to school early Sunday afternoon, after Rose got a call about some girl from the party and almost flew out of Raven's house where the three of them talked about the boys (and girls) at the party... There were really very few people on campus and it was quiet enough for Raven to focus on her schoolwork...

If her mind wasn't cracked and noisy enough

Raven managed to finish her essay on Hamlet and all the algebra calculations but sleep had become a difficult mission, a lot had been swirling in her mind since she saw a certain emerald green-eyed owner walking down the hallway as she came back from the library in tiny sleeping clothes and stupidly hid behind the lockers so she wouldn't be seen by him...

She didn't want to be seen in a loose physical education blouse and a blue short too small with the school symbol... She had had a lot of embarrassment moments involved since the last events...

The truth was, she didn't have the courage to face him yet, especially after dreaming what she dreamed... God, she could still feel the weight of his hand on her waist ...

She really didn't have the courage to meet those judgmental eyes.

Now she rolled over in bed like a roundworm, too restless to sleep and afraid to dream again of the same weight of those hands on her waist sliding down her back, down her thigh, holding her against him, saying her name in the same low, deep and hoarse voice that he always said 'Roth'...

No, she wasn't going to dream that again... She had to erase it from her head, not be reliving and creating new moments...

God, Rose had put it in her head and now for some reason she couldn't get it off... She had woken up at her house the previous night for dreaming exactly what Rose had said when they were getting ready for the party...

And now, the dream was playing like a movie in her mind, and her school uniform nightgowns seemed too hot to wear in such heat, Raven began to wonder that she might be having some kind of fever.

She could only be sick or with a fever... Tara was sleeping peacefully and wrapped in the blankets and the windows were open and the night breeze was gently fluttering the bedroom curtains, but Raven seemed to be inside a burning room...

God she felt like she was totally on fire.

Raven snorted and curled up on the blankets again, ignoring the heat she felt. She would go to sleep one way or another, even if she had to force herself to do it... She needed her sleep, couldn't get away from Damian Wayne the other day and she would face him with her head held high as she always did...

Hiding away from him was making her ego and pride hurt...

Raven had an ego and pride too strong to be hurt by a boy who had probably half taken the girls from school to bed... She wouldn't be shaken, not even by a kiss.

And she urgently needed to sleep...

*************************************************

Raven opened her eyes in fright again.

That dream again  
Again she was panting  
Again, she felt those lips against hers and those hands all over her, taking everything as his own.  
Again she looked 3 times at herself to come to the conclusion that she was still in her good old sleeping pajamas... Or like now, her school pajamas.

The alarm clock sounded with an annoying noise on her headboard, and it took her a full minute to notice that everything was exactly the way she had left when she went to sleep and then to pack her things in her purse to walk toward the ladies' room to begin her morning ritual. An icy bath would probably help calm her heart and mind.

Tara was still sleeping like a rock hugging her pillow when Raven came back from the bathroom almost ready for class, if she didn't wake up she would miss the first class...

Raven took a deep breath looking out the window, she needed to think of something before going to the classroom, couldn't run away from him all the time as she did when she saw him coming to school the night before, she had 4 of 5 classes with him and she couldn't just act like she was too shaken because she kissed him...

She wasn't... 

It was just... What Tara and Rose had said ended up in her head... She just needed to calm down and delete it all from her head, with luck after class she could meditate a little on the lawn or near the gym pool...

Meditating always calmed her mind that thought too much

Raven heard from afar the students arriving at school, most of them rich kids driving from expensive cars to school. Raven always preferred to go the day before to avoid the jamming of Mercedes Benz and BMWs at the main gate... It was pretty annoying to see all those boys showing off like peacocks for makeup girls at 6:30 AM... 

And classes only start at 8 AM

Tara was still sleeping even after that she had called her, so Raven just set the alarm clock to wake Tara before the second class and came out mingling in the crowd of royal blue ties and coats and pleated skirts... She still had to get her books in the locker to go to her first class...

Raven tried not to be paranoid to think that everyone was looking at her... They'd seen nothing, if anyone had seen someone had already come to be 'friendly' with Wayne's new sucker because that's how she saw the high school girls do, pretend to be your friends and fake a curiosity about how it all happened and say that they made up the most beautiful couple in high school and then at the first opportunity stick a knife in your back... 

This was repeated whenever Damian Wayne or Kyle Mizoguchi showed up talking to a girl or dating a new girl (Raven had never seen Damian appear actually dating a girl, there was a rumor that Emiko Queen was his girlfriend for a while but the rumor faded when she appeared fighting with Djinn and screaming for a whole courtyard that was interested in a girl)... 

So Raven tried to calm down and not be a paranoid freak, she didn't notice anyone asking if she was okay or what it was like to be the new school sensation, she was still just Raven and still just the girl with a witch reputation. 

People kept pretending she was like the invisible dust...

She wouldn't be paranoid...

\- "What's up baby!" - Garfield's voice was heard almost all over the corridor in the second class as Raven shifted the books in the closet.

\- "Tara is still asleep... I think..." - Raven grunted before slamming the locker door shut.

\- "I found her... And Rose..."

\- "Rose came to class?" - Raven raised an eyebrow walking slowly beside the green-haired boy - "I didn't see her in math class..."

\- "She was looking for you but gave up when she remembered that you do not skip class for anything..."

\- "She knew very well where I was, Garfield..."

\- "Anyway... She told me about you leaving Damian's party on Saturday... I was busy and when I looked for you at the end of the party, you were gone..."

\- "Whatever she told you, Gar, I'm not interested..."

\- "YOU KISSED HIM!" - Raven spun around as her heart leapt in her chest, covering Garfield's mouth with both hands pushing him against the loker as she dropped the books to the floor and attracted the eyes she didn't want.

They soon lost their curiosity when they saw that it was something not so interesting.

\- "Shiii!" - She mumbled through her teeth - "Are you crazy to shout it in the school corridor?" - Raven looked around before releasing the boy again.

\- "Excuse me...?"

\- "I think no one saw that... This... Happened..." - She took a deep breath lowering to get the books again - "And I intend to remain so... It was a mistake..."

\- "I knew you had a crush on each other... I told you that last week..."

\- "You're wrong... Nobody has a crush on anyone, Garfield... It was an act without thinking straight, okay? Will not happen again..."

\- "I wouldn't say that..." - He had the same playful smile that Rose on his face and sometimes, Raven wondered if Garfield was her brother... They looked more than Joey for example - "It's a pity that I lost my chances with you, now..."

\- "First you have to have had a chance to lose... And that you never had..."

\- "Ouch... It hurt... It was heavy even for you, ice heart..."

\- "Stop calling me that..."

\- "But you are..." - He laughed - "It's our Elsa... Just left singing Let It Go down the hall..."

\- "Fuck you, Garfield..." - She mumbled rolling her eyes - "I need to go to class... I can't stay here wasting time with this nonsense ... I'll kill Rose at break, so be warned that you'll be the next to die if anyone else knows what happened at the party..."

\- "Okay, you're the boss, boss..."

\- "Great... Bye..."

Raven took a deep breath and walked into the French class in the second building, too nervous about Rose telling Garfield when she swore she wouldn't tell anyone about... Raven would take revenge on Rose as soon as she had the chance...

And she would commit murder if anyone else knew about it.

Raven took a deep breath before entering the noisy room, some paper balls and paper airplanes flew around the room as she entered and took her seat, ignoring the feeling of being watched from afar, that she knew very well whose look this was... She needed to ignore and follow her usual routine...

Raven tried to follow that plan, not to look at the fourth table in the second row, not to look at three tables behind where she sat at lunch, not to look at the 7th locker before hers... Her daily routine would go perfectly well. She just kept ignoring it.

And so, she would avoid any awkward moment with the boy who for two nights had been stalking her in her dreams. She hoped that on the first day of school things were back to normal, his day apparently followed normal, he was following the day with no sign of making it any more embarrassing and even though Raven didn't look, she knew he was looking at her with the same bored look from other days...

But to her, she was an explosive bomb of nerves and emotions... And fears...

In the third class, everyone was informed that student clubs would be released and that each student would have the right to choose two or more extracurricular activities to participate in, including football, fencing, reading, writing, math, singing, first aid, theater, athletics and swimming.

Garfield chose the theater club, Rose chose fencing with a weird, manic smile on her face as she looked through the list of participants that frightened Raven, Tara was already in the cheerleading group, and Raven found herself in a role she had never thought of. But now she wanted to try.

Raven always saw herself in the future selling books, she would have a small bookstore with some books to sell and a hot coffee always to offer, but it was a dystopian and distant dream... People didn't buy books anymore, she would go broke even before of coffee getting cold in the kettle. And then, Raven looked melancholy, wondering what would be her adult life if she didn't program herself now as a teenager.

Until that moment

As she glanced down at the list of available clubs, Raven found herself trapped in the announcement that they were recruiting students for first aid classes and to help with the college ward and sometimes even during competitions that the school participated in soccer, athletics and fencing.

Raven was not resourceful to be a cheerleader, was not in her best spirit for a book club, wanted to devote her writing to being just for schoolwork, soccer and fencing were definitely not something she wanted to try, she was horrible in math, she only sang in the shower when she was alone and was definitely a terrible actress.

But ward and first aid was something she knew how to do.

Raven had never thought of the ward as an extracurricular activity, she had never thought of pursuing a medical career and helping heal others, but now as she wrote in her best handwriting, Raven Roth, on the form, she wondered why she hadn't thought of it before...

Raven was introspective, and if it wasn't for her three friends, she almost went unnoticed in class... But not because she wanted to, but because they had it in mind that she was a teenage witch, something like Sabrina from Sabrina's Dark World and so they avoided approaching her thinking that she would take the soul of these poor teenagers to hell... But Raven liked to help and was good with bruises...

Took care of cuts that Rose had for playing with knives, cleaned up injuries that Joey ended up doing every now and then, took care of her aunt Alice's arm when she broke herself by slipping on a stair step...

Raven was good at taking care of people, she liked that...

And there was no one enrolled in being a nurse's aide... That was points to be reckoned with... Peace and quiet and no teenagers doing the wrong work... Just her helping with bandages... It almost felt like picture of peace to Raven.

\- "So you signed up for a book club, kitty?" - Garfield grunted - "I heard that your annoyed boyfriend is in most clubs... He seems to be wanting to keep his head busy, doesn't he? The only ones he's not participating in are the ones he expected, like cheerleader, first aid, soccer..."

\- "Mmmmm .. How many times do I have to say he's not this...?" - Raven grunted through her teeth - "I don't care what he chose... As long as it's away from me..."

\- "Wow, that's because you kissed... Imagine when-"

\- "Shut up, Garfield..."

\- "Okay, I stopped ice heart..." - He raised his hands up in surrender - "Joined a club?"

\- "Nursing!" - Raven grunted laughing.

\- "What?!"

\- "Nursing, Gar..." - She laughed - "Has an initial course of first aid and then I can help in the school ward... Of course, it's little and I can't, for example, give medicines but... I think I finally found something that I'm good at..."

\- "So are you going to join a club of... Nothing...?"

\- "It's not a "club of nothing", Garfield..." - She smiled picking up the bag on the floor and walking back from the boy towards the classroom - "I can help when they hurt in competitions, for example... And I'm good with bandages..."

\- "And good at hurting too, my heart's still broken since the last time you dumped me..."

\- "Let's not go back to this, please..." - Raven smiled - "Are you going to continue in the theater club?"

\- "It's... It's family thing, I think..."

\- "Great..."

\- "Rose was sinister laughing at the list of club subscribers she joined..."

\- "Rose is sinister, Garfield... That's a permanent trait in her personality..."

\- "That's true..." - They laughed almost entering the class when Raven felt a hand on her shoulder, that same hand that almost 48 hours before was holding her waist.

Raven closed her eyes so she wouldn't run away like a scared little girl.

\- "Mmmm... Roth..."

\- "Oh-oh..."

\- "Not today..." - Raven grumbled more to herself than to the people around her who were now dodging her and Garfield into the room. Raven pressed a hand against the books and turned slowly to the voice that had called her.

Was there something different about him? Raven found herself asking what it was...

Same green ocean speckled with gold in his eyes, same small scars, same messy hair falling in strands on his face, same badly buttoned uniform and loose tie...

But with less back weight

\- "Okay... This is that moment when I go to the class and let you talk about whatever you have to talk about..."

\- "We have nothing to talk about, Gar..." - Raven grumbled, looking away after noticing that she was staring at him too long.

\- "Whatever, Rae... See you in the class..."

\- "Gar..."

\- "Bye Rae..." - Garfield smiled, winked and gave no room for Raven to protest, walked out without saying anything more to her, already mingling among the students who passed between him to enter the room and leaving Raven with his hand outstretched as an idiot.

\- "Hmmm... Roth you're... Okay?"

\- "What you want...?"

\- "Mmmm... Today there is a student union meeting... They asked to warn you that it is to decide on the collection of something stupid..."

\- "Ah..." - She took a deep breath and nodded slowly - "Got it... Hmm... Okay, thanks I'll be back to my class" - she grumbled turning around, only to be surprised by the same hand holding her arm. Raven took a deep breath looking at the hand on her arm. He took a deep breath and let go, slipping his hands into his pants pocket.

\- "I... I wanted to apologize for my inappropriate behavior at the party..." - He seemed to be hurting to say that, like when you throw salt on a caterpillar and wait for it to explode - "I... I hope it doesn't interfere with it... Our... Our duties..."

\- "Ahnn... Whatever..." - She blinked a few times trying to understand if he was apologizing for grabbing her, for being rude or if he was imagining she would be a passionate girl running after him now - For me it's like nothing had happened... So...

\- "Ahnn... Of course... For me too..."

\- "I don't even remember what happened..."

\- "Ahnn..." - He bit his lower lip and Raven found herself watching it and holding her breath - "Me too..."

\- "Fine..." - She forced a smile - "So, past waters..."

\- "Yeah... Of course... We both had a lot of alcohol in our blood..."

\- "Exactly... Alcohol..." - She took a deep breath - "Nothing has changed... I don't like you, you don't like me... Everything remains normal... And it's not... That... That will make it change..."

\- "Ah... Of course..." - He nodded, grimacing - "So... A-are you coming or...?" - Raven blinked again a few times trying to figure out what he was calling her, in fact, she tried to situate herself after paying attention to the movement of his lips as he spoke and how he had a funny accent that made him more charming.

Wait, what?

\- "W-what?"

\- "The meeting... Are you coming or can I say you won't attend?"

\- "Ah...! Of course... The meeting ... Hmm... Of course... Is it now? I have biology II and a school work to deliver to the teacher..."

\- "You get a exemption from class, you remember that, right?" - He raised an eyebrow - "All meetings are on class time... Did you forget that?"

\- "Ahnnn... No... Of course not... How would I forget? I... I proposed it every 15 days after interval between third and fourth class... Of course I wouldn't forget..."

\- "Exactly...?" - He was looking at her with those same judgmental eyes she wanted so badly to avoid... She had trouble talking too much when she had judgmental eyes on her.

\- "Hmmm... Of course, I... I will store my books in the locker and then... And ask Garfield to... Give my homework to the teacher... You can go... I meet you there..."

\- "I... I can wait for you..." - Damian grumbled with more emphasis on the phrase, Raven felt her heart was where her stomach should be now - "No problem..." - or was she imagining things now? 

Yes, she was getting paranoid

Raven took a deep breath feeling her lungs fill and then let it out slowly, this was no time to be paranoid... There was no reason she was paranoid, he had given a warning about the meeting, that was all... There was no other meaning in his words... And Raven definitely didn't want to be seen walking around with the sweetheart from high school.

\- "Hmmm... Definitely not necessary... I don't... I don't want to be the next target of the official and deadly fan club of the most coveted high school boy..." - Raven shook her head, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear

\- "I have no fan club...!?" - Raven could see a smile forming at the corner of his lips and found it really weird...

No, there were no smiles when they talked...

\- "Hmmm you have..." - She blinked a few times looking away from him - "Every coveted boy has a girl fan club running after"

\- "Wait... Do you think I'm the most coveted boy in high school...? - He had a small curve forming at the corner of his lips that looked like a smile.

\- "What?"

\- "Yeah, you said you didn't want to be the new target for the most coveted high school boy and then you said every coveted boy has a fan club running after him... Do you think I'm the most coveted boy in high school?"

\- "I? I don't... I... No, of course not... I mean, you're a Wayne... Of course any girl lusts to be seen with you..."

\- "'Any girl' includes you?" 

_Fuck _

Those eyes...  
The softness in his voice...  
The smile threatening to come out and become a laugh... Raven could feel that she was entering the room on fire like when she woke up... What was that?

Fuck, fuck, fuck...  
She was a mess again

\- "What? No!..." - Raven began to feel too nervous 

Wait, her hands were sweaty and shaking?  
Wait, was he smiling?  
Wait what was going on here? 

Raven hadn't noticed that he had stepped closer to her. 

Wait, why had he approached?

\- "Are you ok, Roth?"

\- "I am..." - She took a deep breath closing her eyes - "You misunderstood what I said"

\- "You who said any girl covets be seen with me... And you're a girl, I just..."

\- "Definitely not... I mean I'm a girl... Yes... Eh... I..."

\- "Why are you so nervous? Did I say something I shouldn't?" - Since when was his voice so soft? Raven didn't remember

\- "No! I'm not nervous... It's just... You didn't even let me finish talking... And drew conclusions... Wrong conclusions" - She took a deep breath - "Look, this is... You can go, I'll go right after... I need to turn the biology work over to the teacher, keep my books in the locker, and I don't want to be seen with you...... This doesn't mean a peace deal... What happened at the party wasn't a peace deal..." - Raven clenched her trembling hands on the books until her knuckles turned white to stop them shaking - "I said seriously when I said I don't want to be the target of your official and deadly fan club..."

\- "Hmm... No... Of course, I didn't think that would be a peace deal... Why would it be...? We are water and oil... Right...?"

\- "I... Actually never thought of a definition for what we are..." - Oh, the table had turned? He who winked nervously now, looking sideways

\- "Hmmm... Me neither..."

\- "You said we were like water and oil..."

\- "It was just a stupid thing that crossed my mind..." - He grunted - "Whatever... See you at the meeting..." - He grunted blinking a few times as he turned on his heel and started walking away from the door where Raven still stood watching him walk away as she mentally wondered what had just happened.

Had they talked without any shouting or insulting?  
Was he really kind to her?  
And had he smiles?  
And had she been shaking and her hands sweaty?  
And wait, did he really think of something to define what they were when he didn't even know her name a few days ago?  
Raven had a lot to think about, especially why she had been so nervous, but she couldn't do it at the door of the biology class as everyone inside the room looked at the door waiting for her to decide whether or not to enter.

Including the teacher

Raven took a deep breath and went to the teacher's desk, delivering the assignment quickly and explaining that she needed the dismissal for the student union meeting... For some reason she couldn't remember the collection they would have to discuss, but she couldn't miss it... She and Damian even hating each other were prom treasurers...

Raven began to wonder why they were always together on something, two years hating each other and yet, every now and then they were involved in the same thing.

Spring prom the first year they were working together against their wishes? Both organizing

Food collection for the Red Cross? Idea of both

Animal Adoption Day? You bet it was ideas from both...

Raven took a deep breath and just put her things away and walked toward the meeting room. Everyone was already there, including a Damian Wayne sitting on his chair (Raven found it odd, he always sat like a lord, now it seemed he had just thrown himself there). Raven apologized for being late (odd second point, Damian got up quickly, settling in his chair when she spoke, drawing a laugh from Rose).

Rose for some strange reason (and that for two years, Raven couldn't understand), was the president of the guild...

Rose was barely in class, had fought with half the school, was always involved in some confusion, smoked hiding in almost every corner of the school not to mention the places where she said she had had sex... and had entered the election purely for a bet with Garfield.

And yet, she had gained an absurd advantage in the election to the student union... Maybe Djinn wasn't that loved in the end... 

Raven didn't really understand that for two years, but she was pretty sure she'd rather not understand.

And then there were the other three counselors, Jon Kent, a sweet boy whom Raven knew very little, but who always blushed when she came in. He was almost like a bookkeeper, responsible for taking note of the whole meeting... But Rose made the poor boy like a secretary.

Karen Beecher, a techie girl, she was a rational voice of Rose and always felt responsible for any technological wing of the college... Something broke? you can bet Karen will bring this to the meeting

And Jinx, a girl who occasionally paired up with Raven and who always scared the boys because of their name and their mysterious witch ways, vowing to throw a curse on their penises so they would never get hard again, with that funny Indian accent she had... Raven wasn't sure what she was doing there, but decided not to ask Rose Wilson's reasons after 2 months living with her

Jinx was a nice girl, in the end

A student union full of girls deciding everything that would happen and would be beneficial to all students and two boys too quiet to contradict...

That had worked so far...

\- "So since our dear student example has finally arrived, can we start, right?"

\- "What's the agenda, Rose? I don't remember anything we have to do..."

\- "Baby Jon gave a fantastic idea and I think this year we can turn our hearts to charity..."

\- "Hmmm... It wasn't really my idea... You asked me to-"

\- "Don't be modest, Jon..."

\- "Okay, get it out, Kent..."

\- "Uhnn... Okay... - Raven noticed the boy look nervously at Rose - "We made the adoption day and it was a success..."

\- "Of course it was, only our little friend here adopted a cow, two dogs, a turkey, a cat and a kind of hairball that looked like the unsuccessful cross between a bat and an animal that I still can't identify... Where do you stick all these animals, Damian? - Damian rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to respond when he was interrupted by Jinx.

\- "In your-"

\- "Watch your mouth, boy..."

"I wasn't going to say anything, witch..." - he grumbled. - "Whatever, what does that have to do with the meeting?"

\- "A second day of adoptions?" - Karen spoke for the first time - "I don't know if that would work... Everyone who wanted to adopt already has their pets at home..."

\- "That's true..." - Damian muttered - "But why don't we think of something yet? Maybe we can make a day not only of animal adoption..."

\- "Yeah..." - Raven answered quickly, startled by the very speed that the words came out of her mouth and with all eyes turned to her - "I mean, why don't we put it all together in one day? Everything we did... We could do a fair... "

\- "And part of what we raise, we donate to some animal protection institution..." - Damian grunted agreeing with Raven - "We can count on the help of the school itself, the students... Everyone likes a day off... And well, the fundraiser are always really good when we organize it, still has funds from the last party that we organized at the end of last year..."

\- "That's why I like you two taking care of our prom money... You two are a beautiful money-making brain..." - Rose smiled - "Uhnn, Jon, take note then... San Francisco Academy Student Fair..."

\- "Ok, I'm in it already..."

\- "And what would we put on this fair? Teenagers aren't interested in charity unless it involves points or prom something..."

\- "We can put food tents... We can ask students to give ideas for tents and their chosen tents, we can ask teachers to give extra points for participation."

\- "Kiss tent..." - Karen muttered

\- "What?"

\- "Let's make a kiss tent... $10 entitles you to a kiss... No tongue, of course... $5, a quick peck and $2, a kiss on the cheek"

\- "Oh..." - Raven raised an eyebrow, that sounded too familiar to her.

\- "Good idea Bumblebee!" - Rose smiled - "Write this down, baby Jon... Raven and Damian, you're up to convincing the teachers... I'll find our perfect mouth..."

\- "Damian should be such a perfect mouth..." - Jinx grunted with his arms crossed - "I mean, the girls at this school would pay anything to kiss him..."

\- "No way... I'm out of this..."

\- "As always, a spoils..." - Rose snorted - "I bet if a certain person offered to pay to kiss him, he would change his mind..."

\- "What?"

\- "Rose..."

\- "Whatever, forget..." - Rose took a deep breath - "Jinx you offer?"

\- "People are afraid of me, Rose... No one would kiss the witch who curses the boys penis"

\- "Okay... I'm afraid of you, little witch..."

\- "So... Hey, you can try Kyle Mizoguchi... He's second on the list of stupid sighs..."

\- "Good... Kyle Mizoguchi, write that down too Jon..."

\- "Okay... Mom and Dad can advertise in the newspaper... Or write about... They did it at the adoption fair..."

\- "Great baby Jon! free disclosure, a food fair, kiss tent, what else?"

\- "I can try to get a bigger place..." - Damian grumbled with his arms crossed - "a Amusement park..."

\- "Here's the rich guy we know... Amusement park?" - Rose laughs - "That's like, too much... Let's keep the standard low, okay? Some toys here and there? Great, an entire amusement park, TOO MUCH"

\- "Okay..."

\- "But... You can help our Raven in her role..."

\- "And what would be my role, Rose..."

\- "Children..."

\- "What?" - Raven and Damian answered together, both rising in the chair to look at a smiling Rose

\- "Yeah... Let's put it all together, right? Let's open it to people, they paid you to stay with their children while they have fun in a fun-filled fair..."

\- "How are you so sure people will bring children, Rose?"

\- "Because it's going to be a second Valentine's Day around Thanksgiving, Raven my dear... Let's do it all for couples... Young and old..." - Rose smiled - elegant mail, also note Jonzito..."

\- "Okay... I'm still thinking about how this will work..."

\- "Don't argue, Damian... I am the president of the union, I decide what you will do... And you will take care of children at the fair... If you don't want to go to the kiss tent..."

\- "Fine..." - Raven snorted - "This will not work, but better than getting a disease in mouth because of a stupid fair..."

\- "That Raven! That's the spirit..."

\- "Besides, I'm sure that exchange student would kill any other girl who paid to kiss the Wayne boy..." - Karen muttered

\- "Oh really... Djinn is a little... Weird... Did she just tell me to stay away from Damian?" - Jon muttered

\- "You're exaggerating... I don't even talk to this girl!"

\- "Oh she has a crush on you, green eyes... And a sick crush, with photoshopped photos of you both in the locker"

\- "You got to be kidding me..."

\- "Okay, and you want to push me into this?" - Raven raised an eyebrow - "I definitely don't want to be seen on this boy's side..."

\- "Raven, I told you, I'm the boss here..." - Rose muttered

\- "I know what you're up to, Rose Wilson, and it won't work..." - Raven grunted under her breath.

\- "What am I doing, Raven dear? Could you tell the group about? I'm just thinking about the well-being of our classmates, our winter ball and the school's interaction with the community..." - Rose smiled an evil smile with eyes that showed a false innocence.

Raven had talked too much, now she had five pairs of curious eyes on her

\- "Nothing..." - Raven took a deep breath - "Just... End this meeting..."

\- "Great... Write down baby Jon, Raven and Damian will convince the teachers and will be from the kids tent... Jinx and I will talk to the principal..."

\- "Okay..." - Raven rolled her eyes and snorted, incredulous that Damian just looked at everything very calmly, expressing no displeasure at simply taking care of children.

\- "I can get my dad to make stereo available..." - Karen said - "A fair has to have music..."

\- "Games, we need games!" - Rose said smiling - "Write down baby this too baby, music and games... Anyone know a DJ? A party boy? Damian...?"

\- "If you're saying about Tim, I don't know... He's in college, I don't know if he has time for this kind of stupidity..."

\- "I can ask our beautiful Raven here to help convince him..."

\- "Rose, you can't trade me like a bargaining chip"

\- "I'm sure you wouldn't mind exchanging kisses with him for the good of our school..."

\- "TT..."

\- "Shut up, Rose..." - Raven took a deep breath with her arms crossed, noting a slight change in Damian's calm, which now had a frown and an angry expression.

\- "Anyway... Isn't hard to try... By the way, this year we will have the presence of some Wayne outside you in something at school? You bring a horde of fans and admirers of the bourgeois life you lead..."

\- "I don't know, Wilson... Why do you want so much contact with my family? Drake is not even a DJ, he just makes a playlist and lets it play..."

\- "Which is great for me..." - Rose raised an eyebrow - "So we won't have to worry about equipment... And oh, the little girls will scream when they hear of a party here at school with your brother..."

\- "Whatever..."

\- "Well..." - Rose smiled and looked at the clock - "We have decided a lot and the rest is for the next meeting when I hope to have the answer from the principal, the teachers, the beautiful Tim Drake and the students, okay?"

Raven rolled her eyes and waved yes defeated, Rose was wiggling her chopsticks to push her to Damian somehow and Raven simply could do nothing against it, Rose was the union president, she gave the last word...

They each signed their usual stupid minutes of meeting and left the room talking about what they could do to get their jobs done, except Raven and Damian who walked in silence with the others 4. What should they talk about? Studying how to care for babies? Hypnosis? She honestly didn't know

Rose skipped ahead of them, a huge, pleasant smile on her face until they all dispersed to their classrooms, leaving only the silver-haired girl, Raven and Damian in sepulchral silence.

\- "So what do you have in mind to convince the teachers...?"

\- "I... I have no idea, Rose... No teacher will accept giving extra points to those who make tents at a fair..."

\- "Well, then you need to sit down and think about the argument... We need it... The prom and the dresses and the joy of our dear friends depend on you..."

\- "Wilson you get pathetic talking like a politics..."

\- "It's my role as president, golden boy..." - She smiled - "Anyway, resolve this hatred between you and learn to work together, or else you go to the kiss tent..."

\- "You can't keep threatening us with this..."

\- "Of course I can!" - She smiled, stopping in a door - "I am the owner of the whole fucking thing, of course I can!"

\- "TT ..." - Damian rolled his eyes - "Meet me at the library tonight, Roth... We'd better get this over with quickly, before Wilson becomes a despot..."

\- "That's it, hate ball... Take action again... I like it like that..." - She winked at Raven - "Anyway, if you want to drink something with me too and take the initiative, I'm free on Friday... I wanted to try something..."

\- "TT..." - He rolled his eyes and walked away from Raven and Rose without looking back, while Raven wanted to throw Rose into a toilet and flush to see if at least it all ended.

\- "No need to say thanks, I got you a date tonight, bird girl..."

\- "Shut up, Rose... Just... Shut the fuck up..."

Raven took a deep breath and watched the girl enter smiling in class, shouting at her classmates...

God she really needed to get revenge on Rose Wilson...


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How could you do this to me? Oh

Damian looked at the clock, it was almost 6PM and the library was starting to empty. He felt very anxious and honestly, didn't know why... He had told her to meet him to discuss his duties at such a stupid Rose fair... It was no big deal...

It wasn't a date...

They were just going to discuss school things...

Why did he watch the clock every 2 minutes waiting for her to come in that door?

Damian took a deep breath and tried again to read the same paragraph for the fifth time, from the book he picked up randomly just to pass the time, when she finally walked through the door with determined steps toward him, wearing a sweatshirt and lightly wet hair denouncing the reason for the delay... She had gone to shower before...

Oh shit... His mind traveled too much...

Damian took a deep breath and looked back at the book, even though the words felt like a bunch of tangled letters that made no sense.

\- "The library closes in less than an hour, we'll have to be quick..."

\- "Oh, I'm sorry if my personal cleaning rituals get in your way, sir..."

\- "Hmmm... Whatever..." - He grunted closing the book

\- "Not much to do either... We just have to think of an argument with the teachers, it's not like we were spending the night locked here..." - Damian arched an eyebrow

Did she consider being locked with him there? Raven had been acting weird with him since he was calling her to the meeting... She was nervous, he could notice her white knuckles as they held the books even if she denied...

\- "I mean, researching things... Don't jump to conclusions again..."

\- "I said nothing..."

\- "Isn't needed too..." - She took a deep breath - "So... I need to find a math book, you can help me search and then we discuss how the best argument can be..."

\- "You won't even ask if I have any ideas?"

\- "Hmmm... No..." - She rolled her eyes walking to the bookshelves, making him get up and follow her - "It's probably some idea that involves bribery..."

\- "I won't bribe anyone... Do you really think so?"

\- "Hmmm... Yeah, I think..."

\- "You really don't know me..."

\- "No... But I know rich people... Everything is solved with money for you..."

\- "That's right..." - He crossed his arms as she ran her fingertips over the spines of the books. - "Wait, do you need math books or are you getting because you're geeky enough to read?"

\- "I need to try to understand geometry..." - She mumbled without looking at him - "And I can better understand if I read some book about... Unlike you think, I'm not a nerd... I'm terrible at calculating... Mathematics in general, actually..."

\- "Oh, the right girl has a flaw..." - She took her eyes off the books for a second looking at him with raised eyebrows.

\- "Everyone has a flaw..."

\- "I don't..."

\- "Oh... Of course... You're the perfect flawless guy..."

\- "Do you think that?"

\- "I'm being ironic, idiot..."

\- "I doubt it, but... - he scowled crossing his arms - You haven't answered me so far the question I asked you this afternoon..."

\- "Ahnnn..... What? You talk too much, sorry I can't remember which of the questions..."

\- "If you included yourself in 'any girl'..."

\- "Hmmm I'm sure I already answered that..."

\- "No... You turned the table and didn't answer.... What is it, Roth? Don't you wanna give your arm a twist...?" - He smiled lowering himself to her height. Raven just rolled her eyes and slapped the book in his face turning to the books from another shelf.

\- "You really believe you're the most wanted and handsome boy in high school, don't you?"

\- "You said I was the most coveted..."

\- "Because of your name... You know these girls here kill and die to have some connection with some Wayne... Except me..." - She took a deep breath 

\- "Except you?"

\- "Uhum..." - She mumbled without looking at him, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear that insistently wanted to fall on her face as she flipped through another book.

\- "Why 'except you'?"

\- "Why?" - She looked up from the books and looked at him against the opposite side of her - "Well... It's just a name... You're exactly like 99.9% of the other boys in high school... A little more annoying and more narcissistic, but... It's still an ordinary boy... There's nothing surprising except the weight of the name you carry... Not that means much to me..."

\- "I'm not an ordinary boy... You really don't know a third about me..."

\- "Narcisist..." - She grunted with her attention turned to the book again - "So... I guess that answers the question..."

\- "Ouch... No one has really been that honest with me like that, although you really don't know anything about me... Except Pennyworth, no one has ever had the audacity to say something to me..."

\- "You're welcome..." - Raven shrugged

\- "So you really didn't feel anything? Was it just a kiss for you? Nothing has changed?"

\- "I don't know who gave you that confidence boost in thinking I'm the kind of little girl who would run after you because of that... but was completely wrong... I said it meant nothing to me..."

Damian stared at her, peering at the books without even a sign of failure as before... It was as if she had switched places with a scared little girl to the same ironic and sarcastic girl ever...

And Jason Todd's advice really wasn't working at all....

Damian now felt stupid to hear Jason... There was an explanation that he was always single and it was definitely now clear to Damian what it was.

After much insistence while Jason took Damian to school the day before, Damian said what had happened to Jason, explained that he didn't understand why he had kissed her and emphasized sometimes that he didn't like her...

And Jason in his infinite stupidity stopped the car and looked at Damian with a huge smile... Damian could review the scene in his head now.

________________________________________________________

** _Almost 24 hours before_ **  
** _San Francisco_ **

\- "Look, gremlin... I'm not good with love advice... I'm a shit with words, Dick is better than me at this..."

\- "I know that..."

\- "But... That doesn't look like hate..." - He raised an eyebrow - "You jacked off thinking about her... This isn't hate... Hate is punching someone you don't like... Wanting to fuck someone is another thing..."

\- "Jesus, you're really bad at the words..." - Damian crossed his arms - "Forget what I told you... Please drive back to school..."

\- "You're going to listen to my advice now... Dick probably gave the advice in the big daddy style.... I'm going to tell you the raw truth... You're not sure how you feel about this... Muse... Let's say like this..."

\- "Someone please kill me..." - Damian muttered with his hand over his face - "I've reached my quota of awkward conversations today, Todd..."

\- "I don't give a shit about it..." - Jason shrugged - "But you don't know how you feel about her... You say you hate her, but you jerk off thinking about her... How many times has this happened?"

\- "Jason, it was just... Yesterday... God, what do you think I am? A pervert just like you?"

\- "Yes..." - He laughed lighting a cigarette while starting the car again - "And so, I'll advise you one thing... Solve with her... If she returned the kiss, she doesn't hate you that much..."

\- "What?"

\- "Yeah... Take her to a corner of that school, try to find her point of nervousness... If she wants you, she will be nervous for little... Catch her... Kiss her the same way... Feel how she melts in your hands... So... you know, get lost inside her... It shouldn't be hard to find a place away from everyone in that school... But, always with consent, of course... If she said no, you'll have to settle on your own... No girl is obligated if she doesn't want to... First ask if she's okay with this..."

\- "What kind of advice are you trying to give me, Todd?"

\- "You know very well, fuck her hard, little brother... And the skirts help a lot, go for me... I know what I'm talking about... After you lose your virginity and see her shaking in your hand while she comes, you will understand what I'm talking about and will know if you like her or not..."

\- "You should be forbidden to give advice, Todd..."

\- "You know I'm right... This love at first sight thing is bullshit and you don't believe in this bullshit either... But believe me, there's love at first fuck... And you have a lot of explosive chemistry between you, it seems... You are going to have sex at some point, that's a fact..."

\- "I won't do it... I'll regret anything I hear from you and I already regret hearing it... You're shit with advice ..."

\- "Look, you don't have to literally follow what I said exacly now... You don't have to stick your hard clown in her circus tent tonight... You can go around the corner until you eat the fruit... Discover the point of nervousness, girls always get nervous and always give too much... And they love a sucker, be a sucker..."

\- "I'll delete exactly everything you said from my head... Bye, Todd..."

________________________________________________________

Damian took a deep breath, watching Raven too closely in the books after remembering. Of course he didn't delete it, in fact, he kept thinking about this conversation for a long time at night and when he saw her nervous in the classroom, he thought Jason might be right...

In fact, maybe she was just embarrassed that they didn't talk after the kiss...

She seemed quite used to the idea now... And the nervousness she had in the classroom now had no sign of wanting to appear.

Damian just felt stupid now for following Jason Todd's advice...

Damian took a deep breath and just leaned against the shelf watching her reach for another book at the top.

\- "I could take this book for you if you asked me, you know... right?"

\- "No... No need..." - She grunted getting on tiptoe - "I know I'm short, but don't need to rub it in my face..."

\- "Okay... Let's see how much longer you will be stretching for being too proud..."

\- "As long as it takes... I definitely don't need you..." - She took a deep, grimacing breath and stretched again on her toes, sometimes leaping in the air as if she could reach the spine of the book on one of the heels. It was a futile effort as he just stared bored at the scene.

Damian watched her struggle without results for a full 15 minutes. She would never reach that, she was on the fourth shelf and she barely reached the edge of the shelf.

He took a deep breath and just reached over, handing her the book, too bored to see her stretch trying to balance herself on her toes, gripping the sweatshirt that insisted on rising, showing the curve of her waist and trying to reach the spine of the book.

Part of Damian couldn't really take his eyes off where his sweatshirt insisted on rising ... Pale as the moon, the way he thought ...

\- "Are you nosy like that or...?"

\- "Oh, you're welcome, Roth..." - he grumbled wryly.

\- "I didn't ask you to get it for me... I could get it sometime..."

\- "That's called kindness, chivalry... We usually do it for other people... And the other person thanks instead of complaining like a grumpy lady..."

\- "I could get it, I just needed to stretch a little more... Maybe get a chair to climb..."

\- "Tt... You were uselessly stretching more than possible to get this book and barely reached the edge of the shelf... And with a chair you could fall, a fall that could result in a broken arm..."

\- "Again, I didn't ask you to take it for me... You're a nosy..."

\- "You were willing to take an unnecessary risk for a book when you could just ask me to take it for you... What's the matter with asking for help at one time or another...?"

\- "The problem is that you're annoying!" - She walked back to the back of the library, where it was really deserted.

\- "I'm annoying for... helping you?"

\- "Yes... You don't have to help me... I don't want to... And... Don't worry about me... I said I want to keep my distance from you..."

\- "I'm not worried about you..." - Damian raised his eyebrow - "And a thank you was enough..."

\- "You really think you're the last cookie in the pack, don't you? Selfless and kind... A gentleman because he took a book from the last shelf... A lord..."

\- "Kind and selfless? No... A lord? Maybe... Have you heard about my family from my mother?"

\- "No, and I don't care either... I don't give a damn about a nosy, spoiled, narcissistic boy like you..."

\- "It won't kill your pride to ask for help or thank once in a while... And it won't kill me to help you..."

\- "But such a book can kill you for sure..."

\- "I doubt a little, but you can try... Or are you too fearful for that?" - He smiled, watching her blue eyes get that same stormy tone coming back like in the party. It was amazing how she changed her mood with a sentence or two... It had been like that for two years ...

Raven was like the Pacific Ocean... If you heard about her, you would imagine a quiet and peaceful girl, but if you let you drown in her blue eyes, you would discover that she was a raging sea... Ready to break your board with a giant wave and drag you to the bottom of a storm if you pissed her off...

Damian had seen those same eyes thousands of times in two years ...

It was just like when she got angry in the classroom or the way it was at the party, bluish storm coming deep in these irises that even in the dim light he knew so well and this time, just this time, he would let himself appreciate her... She really looked very beautiful when she was angry...

Just like at the party. Deadly beautiful.

Damian watched her struggle if she gave in to the teasing or simply rolled her eyes and left as she always did. He expected her to just turn and walk to some other shelf when she surprised him, her hand taking enough force and speed to slap his face beautifully if he hadn't held her hand inches from his face.

If he hadn't learned to read body language and hadn't paid attention to her hand going back for a boost, he would probably have a beautiful red on his face now.

Damian took a few deep breaths, surprised that she left the facade of peace and love so quickly with just a discussion about a book. And surprised that he wanted to kiss her again, as hotly as at the party...

Damian's eyes drew and kept every curve of Raven's lips... They didn't have red lipstick now, but they offered the same kind of poison he tasted at the party...

That long minute debating whether they gave in or not seemed like forever to an annoying part of his brain.

What if someone caught them? What if he felt that again? What if he felt more than just that...?

\- "You need to be faster, Roth, if you want to catch someone by surprise..."

\- "You're the only idiot I want to hit so... I guess I don't need much...."

\- "Oh..." - He closed his hand tighter around her wrist and Raven flinched and gave a slight sigh... Oh that left all his senses messy and alert...

Was he hurting her or...?

\- "My arm... If you can... Give it back to me..."

\- "Yeah... I think I can..." - He grunted, didn't think anymore, didn't want think anymore... He needed to hear that sigh again even if it was the last thing he would do...

It wasn't so bad being a normal boy...

And besides, he wouldn't talk anymore, he said later...

Unless she rejected him, that would be very embarrassing.

Damian growled, nervous to himself for thinking too much before acting, and at the same speed as he let go of her arm, he pressed his lips to hers, not asking permission to come in, nor giving her room to contest it.

She didn't seem to want to contest either.

Raven dropped the books she was holding, letting them fall flat on the floor without worrying about the noise they made. Wrapping her arms around Damian's shoulder, her fingertips drawing the muscles to his nape just to hold his shirt collar in a fight for dominance in which neither side seemed to give way.

Damian breathed hard, inhaling the unmistakable scent of lavender shampoo, wanting to get more drugged in that scent, wanting to drown more in the Pacific Ocean she had in her eyes, in the storm she threatened to pour.

Sank more...

Damian pushed Raven's body against the bookshelf behind her, Raven just followed the script, tangling her thin fingers in his strands of hair.

Damian didn't want to lose the battle, but she was good on the battlefield... Oh, he was losing shamelessly...

Damian lowered his lips to Raven's jaw, following the washing stroke that came from her hair, impregnated as in his mind like bad glue. His hands found their way down Raven's hip, sliding down the hem of her sweatshirt to meet the soft, curvy skin of her waist, squeezing hard enough to leave fingerprints, too unsure whether or not to deepen his touches as he climbed his hand slowly down the side of her body.

Jesus, she didn't wear a bra...

One of his hands curled into Raven's long black hair pulling a little to reach her neck. Licking his lips over her pulse point, noting how she had half-closed eyes and a half-open mouth and a ragged breath, breathing lightly.

Damian started hooking a huge "fuck it" about where they were, they were in a library and he was well aware of it. They were, as Jason said, making out, and they had a taste of danger to it… He would stop when she asked, but at that moment, she didn't seem worried about asking him to stop touching her boobs curve. And he saw no problem with her not asking him to stop... Honestly, part of him was a stupid boy too excited to touch a female boob for the first time... And the other part of him was too embarrassed about it.

Damian traced the curve of her soft skin with his fingertips, watching her shiver as he felt his own reason turn off. He turned off his mind when she gave a low moan, barely noticeable when he pressed the heat of his body against hers and no longer reasoning right seconds later when she wrapped a thigh in around his waist.

God, he wanted so badly to touch her, to taste her...

It would be so easy...

But fate was never easy with Damian... And he was used to everything that come easy, go easy.

Damian had kissed her again, leaving both of them breathless as the oxygen in the room was gone, his hands finding untapped places as he searched for the damn zipper on her sweatshirt when a flashlight flashed in front of them.

The scene was exactly the same as cats freaking out about cucumbers.

\- "Wow... Now what we have here..."

_Hunter Prince..._

Damian had the reputation of being a bad boy for the amount of fighting he had gotten into these two years that was in San Francisco... He didn't even know why he had that title, but he didn't question... It helped make people let him in peace most of the time.

But Hunter... Hunter was really a bad guy...

He was indirectly Jon Kent's bastard brother... His parents, Diana Prince, a diplomat princess from a place in Greece, and Jon's father, Clark Kent, had a brief, fleeting relationship that spawned in a child. Hunter was what one might call a troubled boy and discounted his frustrations by being mean to people... All people

Except Damian, he tried to be a fake friend of Damian that Damian simply ignored...

Damian backed away so fast and slammed so hard on the bookshelf opposite Raven's that it swayed as he felt his cheeks warm... And an unwanted heat in his pants.

\- "Hunter..."

\- "Buddy...!"

\- "..."

\- "I... Hmm... Oh gosh..." - Raven grumbled, rubbing her face against the shelf, too confused to try to formulate a sentence... Damian took a deep breath and looked at her, wondering if she was all right, she looked pale, paler than normal..."

\- "Were you on something important here?"

\- "No..."

\- "Hunter I... Did something happen? I... I need to sort things out with... Roth about... The union..."

\- "Sorry buddy I... I didn't know you had a new chick..." - Raven looked at Damian and then at Hunter and then at Damian again - "I didn't want to disturb your new fuck but... The library will close... And I was asked to come to warn the... Forgotten here in the dark..."

\- "Hmmm... Eh... I... I need to go..."

\- "Raven... Wait, we... we have to talk... About the student union... About us..."

\- "That was a mistake..." - Raven grumbled without looking at the two boys, while picking up the books on the floor - "No... Don't come near me again, okay? This... This was a mistake and it can't happen again..."

\- "Raven... Wait..." - Damian tried to grab her arm but she just pulled back

\- "Let's go with your idea... End of Meeting..." - She grunted before running past Hunter, hugging her books as she disappeared into the darkness. Damian threw himself against the bookshelf again with both hands on his face. He really wanted to have a proper curse word and a place where he could scream now.

\- "Girls... They rub on us, make us horny and hard on and then blame us for it... But relax, buddy, believe me, this bitch comes back to you with a snap of the fingers.." - Damian looked at Hunter and at the same speed as he felt desire for Raven's skin, he now felt that breaking Hunter in two... He would kill him if he could.

Damian leaned Hunter against the bookshelf, holding him by the neck ready to break if necessary... God how he wanted to break that neck...

He would break without thinking twice a few years ago...

\- "Hey... What's up man..."

\- "I'll give you two warnings, Hunter... Just two simple warnings... First, I'm not your friend, I'm not your 'buddy'... If you tell someone what you saw here, if I hear of a only person who heard this from you i'll hunt you in the fucking hell where you live and i'll break you... I don't give a shit what your mother is let alone your father... You don't know me..."

\- "Hey buddy... Calm down... You know, your secret is saved with me... If you wanna fuck the gothic slut in secret, I'll be a grave... I'd fuck her if she let me too... These holy ones are the most naughty, isn't it? She must be so tight” - Damian saw red, everything in his vision was now red. 

Hunter was disgusting... The way he talked about Raven was disgusting and Damian wanted to make him swallow what he said... Damian punched him so hard that his own hand hurt and then he held the boy by the neck again, leaving him breathless.

Hunter managed to spit a white piece on Damian, great, the stupid son of a diplomat princess had broken a tooth.

\- "I told you, I'm not your 'buddy'... Second, never refer to Raven as a bitch or a chick again... If I see you approach her, if you touch her hair, if I know you pronounced even her name, if i hear you calling her any name that comes up with it i'll make you not only lose your fucking teeth... I won't have mercy... I will kill you, Hunter... And I don't give a shit about it... I've already sent others to the medical bay for less... I'll be happy to end your race... Are we understood?" - Hunter couldn't speak, so he just nodded his head badly, coughing and gulping breaths as Damian released him.

Hunter was taller, but Damian was a killer before he could even speak... He knew points to at least make Hunter unconscious...

And Hunter, unlike his mother, was a terrible fighter

Damian snorted, running a hand through his hair, wondering what to do while watching Hunter looking for air on the floor while he coughed. If he ran, he would still find Raven and apologize for what he did... He wasn't the type to apologize for his actions, but felt that he should apologize to Raven... Everything had just happened too fast and now that had oxygen in his brain again, it all seemed really wrong...

Damian tried to find her in the hallway, but she was simply gone. If he went to the girls' dormitory, he would probably find her there, but he feared what she might think of seeing him there, in her room.

Especially after what had happened... And how things had gotten too hot between them...

No, it was a bad idea to go to her room...

Besides, he didn't even know what her room was...

Damian took a deep breath and eventually went to his own room, he would try to talk to her the other day when the dust settled. 

Everything would be fine.

At least that was what he expected, after a long time taking a cold shower and tossing himself to bed even though it was too early and not even having a drop of sleep.

Damian didn't sleep... He spent the night thinking about everything that had happened and how he would apologize to Raven and why the hell he didn't think straight about what he was doing... He should have thought better, predicted better, studied the situation better and not just follow the stupid advice of stupid Jason Todd...

Damian felt like a real shard the other day, couldn't pay attention in class, and felt like he was going to fall asleep on things at any moment... And to make matters worse, Raven didn't show up in any of the classes they had together...

She didn't miss classes at all, almost not even sick... Damian had tired of seeing the girl with signs of fever, her cheeks pink and sweating and yet going to the classroom... But that day, she missed them all ... Not even at lunch time Raven showed up in the refectory...

Damian began to worry, would go after her after the first fencing class and try to find out if she was all right... Didn't want her to get hurt because of an accident between them... As much as they hated each other, Damian didn't want her to harm herself at all...

Damian entered the gym unable to avoid the headache that insisted on hitting him in full force, partly because of his concern for Raven and partly because he didn't sleep or eat right. He never got that way from anyone... Not even when Dick took a headshot...

One thing you should know about Damian Wayne: he was a great swordsman... He was a good artist, could play whole and complex symphonies and sonnets on piano, learned guitar alone, was a black belt in most martial arts and had an impeccable aim, had an impeccable bow and arrow aim, cooked perfectly well, besides being self taught...

But swordsman, Damian was the best... Trained by his mother and grandfather throughout his childhood, no one could compete with him in fencing, he went into that fencing club purely because he was bored, wanted to occupy his head so as not to think about the party kiss and because it seemed fun to see everyone else debate with the sword.

Damian was really good in the three types of fencing, this would be a hobby for him...

But that day, his head was not there... Damian looked like someone who had never caught a sword in his life and his lack of sleep the night before was beginning to affect him more than it should and he was still worried about Raven's disappearance...

The teacher, Justin Arthur was an excellent gentleman and Damian heard interesting stories involving his name and what he thought was a story for children to sleep...

Professor Justin didn't look like someone who had belonged to the knights of the round table... He was even very young.

But he was a good teacher, always in a class involving swords, defense, and horses... Maybe that's where the stories came from.

\- "Today we will start with the basics of fencing and learn the exchange of passes... It is not very difficult, but it's necessary that you have all the attention focused on your bodies and the rival... Now make pairs..."

\- "Hey Damian, do you pair me?" - Rose Wilson shouted throwing the sword at him. Damian looked around seeing the options of colleagues left, Rose was really the best option among the worst.

\- "I won't take it easy... I'm one of the best swordsmen I come from..."

\- "Uhhhh... Is this supposed to make me afraid? Will have to do better, sucker..."

Rose smiled and lowered her helmet, setting off for the attack and catching Damian unnoticed. 1 point for Rose. Damian needed to bring his mind back to the gym and fencing match, Rose was not an amateur like the rest was good, agile and strategic. But now and then Damian's mind betrayed him and he was distracted, tired, sleepy, and worried about Raven. And in that, during a silly change of feet, it fell strangely on top of his right arm.

Initially? Damian didn't feel anything, his arm felt numb. He sat up and tried to support his arm to get up and then the pain hit him hard.

Damian didn't see when he just screamed and held his arm to his chest and dropped to the floor again. The pain blinded Damian like never before and clouded all his thoughts. He could do nothing but wrestle on the floor muttering all sorts of Arabic curse words that he could remember at that moment.

\- "Hey hate ball, are you ok? Oh my god, Raven is going to kill me..." - Rose Wilson grunted running to Damian - "Damn, Wayne... You need a doctor... Your arm...

\- "What happened?"

\- "We were doing the exchange of passes and he fell... I think he broke his arm..." - Damian heard the voice of the teacher and Rose and some other students in the distance. Great, he had broken his arm... That's exactly what he needed now...

\- "Someone needs to accompany him to the ward..."

\- "TT... I'm fine... I've... I've already broken my arm other times... I've climbed a mountain with a broken arm... That's nothing..." - Damian grunted trying to sit up again, the pain was beginning to subside and everything went numb again, but his vision was still clouded from the pain.

\- "Shut up, sucker..." - Rose grunted bending down and taking Damian's good arm to support and help him get up - "You're even pale from the pain... You will end up vomiting here and it's not going to be a beautiful scene, especially with this arm all ugly and swollen... Mr. Justin, I can take him to the ward, he was doing double with me, it's more than correct that I take him ..."

\- "You're dismissed from class, Wilson... Follow this boy quickly to the ward before he faints here..." - Rose nodded and walked away holding Damian's injured arm like a sloppy sling.

\- "Wilson you know I don't need you to hold my arm... I can walk perfectly... - Damian muttered when they were a little way from the gym

\- "I know... Wow hate ball, what strong arms... I understood what Raven saw in you... Wow"

\- "Shut up..." - Damian grumbled pulling his arm back, only to curse the sharp pain that came with the movement.

\- "You and Raven can't even get a compliment. You always have to shut me up."

\- "Mmmm..." - Damian took a deep breath looking forward, too undecided wondering about Raven for Rose. After a long, struggling minute he decided that it was better to ask than to have to keep tugging at Rose's arm all the time - "Is everything okay with Roth? I-I haven't seen her since yesterday..."

\- "Hmmmm... You liked her, right?"

\- "What? No! I don't like her, she don't like me...! It's not that... It's just that I never see her skipping class and today I didn't see her at school..."

\- "Ah the king and queen of denial... Whatever..." - Rose shrugged - "She was weird since yesterday, Tara said she came sweating and shivering in the room and today said she wasn't doing well and was going to take something... Maybe we'll find her there... That crazy woman decided to be a nurse, believe me?"

\- "She is sick? Didn't you go see her? What kind of friend are you, Wilson?"

\- "What? Hey, hold your horses, Romeo... Or I break your arm in two more places... I would go there, I was going there, I texted her in Spanish class to know how she was, but she said she was fine, but needed to rest ... It must be a flu... Raven has a jealous immune system, but when she has a simple flu she seems to be terminally ill..."

\- "Mmmmm..." - He nodded slowly. It could be a flu and he was getting paranoid, she should have known that getting her hair wet the night before bed wasn't healthy and she could get sick...

Damian mentally began to list in his head all the things Raven needed to get better from the flu. She needed Alfred's good hot tea, some cookies, and some sleeping pills. Herbal tea could help clear the nasal congestion that flu caused.

Wait, why did he care so much about her?

\- "I hope she gets better..." - Damian grumbled looking forward, the medical bay was not so far now - "I-I will not do all the work of the fair alone..."

\- "Oh... Of course... Your whole concern is just work... Really..."

\- "And what else would it be?"

"Do you really want me to answer?" Damian looked at the smiling silver-haired girl in front of him and raised his eyebrow. She laughed and made a V sign with her fingers and stuck her tongue in the middle.

And Damian of course, didn't understand...

He still didn't understand much about the West... These good 7 years hadn't yet had the expected effect and he still didn't understand much of the signs and language of Western teens.

\- "What is it?"

\- "Oh my god don't you know what this is?"

\- "No.... Should I?"

\- "Oral sex, Damian! That means oral sex! The V is the vagina and the tongue is you fucking the girl with the fucking tongue for goodness sake! Oh my god, I pity the girls you fucked because you don't know an oral sex symbol!" - Damian stopped walking with his mouth open, like a fish trying to breathe out of the water.

He really had a lot to learn about Western teens.

\- "Whatever, Wilson..." - he grumbled, feeling his cheeks get hot at the same speed as he accelerated his pace toward the nurse's foggy glass door.

\- "Oh my god you're blushing! Oh... Wait a minute, boys don't have the habit of blushing when it comes to sex... Unless you... Nooooooooooo... Oh my god you're a virgin too!"

\- "That's none of your business, Wilson..."

\- "Awwwwn that's cute... Really..." - She was giving annoying jumps next to Damian - "Very cute... You can lose your virginity together!"

\- "What are you talking about, Wilson?"

\- "Raven told me about your kiss... Obviously you want something more than kiss, you're just too stubborn to admit it..." - Damian swallowed, his throat feeling completely closed

\- "What a kiss?"

\- "Hey, the only one that happened... At the party... Why? Did any more happen?"

\- "No..." - Damian took a deep breath, he didn't need Rose to know about the event last night, how his fingers touched the curvature of her breasts, how she had half-closed eyes and a half-open mouth, or how her low and soft moan, almost inaudible made his bones like jelly. If she hadn't commented to Rose that was her best friend, he wouldn't comment - "I-It was an accident... It shouldn't have happened..."

\- "You were at a party and there is this tension between you of course it was supposed to have happened... It took too long for you to kiss..." - Damian snorted rolling his eyes - "So are you really a virgin? Oh my god I think no one here imagines that the richest and hottest boy is a virgin!

\- "Can you, I don't know, stop saying that?"

\- "Sure, puritan boy..." - She laughed - "But... If you want to learn things before you go sticking your dick in girls around, call me...

\- "Fuck, can't you shut up? You're just like Todd!"

\- "Okay, okay..." - She smiled entering the ward with his lap strap. Damian scanned the bright white room, finding 3 female faces.

Meghan Morse, a boring red-haired girl which was from Damian's French class. He could only roll his eyes every holy time she said 'Hello, Meghan' to some stupid conclusion she came to.

Emiko Queen, a girl who came from afar and for a while, came very close to Damian for their combat and fighting affinities. After an argument Damian had only heard of, she turned completely away from him.

Raven Roth, the pale girl he'd spent the day worrying about. There, standing with her hair tied in a bun, flushed cheeks and the same ocean blue in her eyes.

\- "Hey Meghan... I brought you a patient" - Meghan released everything she had in her hands and ran to Rose and Damian and helped them to accommodate on the stretcher - "Our friend here fell awkwardly in fencing class... Oh... Hey, Rae! Are you okay? We were worried about your disappearance..."

\- "I'm fine..." - Raven's soft, low voice was hear so clear to Damian that it looked like she was sitting on the stretcher with him. He wanted to run to her, ask what happened, why she was missing, apologize for what happened and his behavior...

But now he had two other sets of eyes on his arm, girls who didn't understand much touching the swelling and a sharp pain threatening to come back.

All three were in button-down blouses, pleated skirts, and coats on their shoulders... Except for Raven, who was wearing the bluish coat and was sitting on one of Damian's opposite stretchers reading her math book attentively, looking away now and then to where Damian was sitting.

\- "Damn it!" - Meghan grunted - "I think it broke... You'll have to stay here today, Damian... Uncle Jhon will have to cast your arm... And he's now in the radiography room with another boy... Hunter Prince, do you know him? Appeared here with a broken tooth! Said he fell down the stairs..."

\- "Whatever... Hunter Prince is an asshole..." - Damian muttered, catching Raven's gaze from afar. She still had the book against her face, but he could see both oceans flooding him.

\- "Let me see this... - She mumbled after long minutes - My aunt already broke her arm, if his is broken, you can't keep touching and squeezing like this... It can hurt more..."

\- "Oh, Raven is very good with dressings..." - Rose laughed

\- "Are you better already, Raven?"

\- "I am..." - She grunted without looking at the red-haired girl, her attention turned to the cold fingers running over Damian's arm. Damian took a deep breath trying to avoid looking at Raven, trying to control his heartbeat that insisted on speeding up, trying to control his breathing and just focus on his swollen arm in front of him and the two girls debating on the side of the stretcher about the state of his arm. Raven's cold fingers against his skin. Those same fingers were tangled in his hair the night before.

He didn't know she was that good with medical care.

\- "Uhnn... Yeah ... Apparently it's broken... He needs arm support... I... I'll call Dr Jhon..."

Damian wanted to hold her again and use the opportunity to say all he had to say, but she simply walked out the ward door and after long minutes of chattering, returned accompanied by the school doctor, Jhon Jonzz, and retired in her stretcher and in her math book, ignoring Damian's doubtful and worried look.

He wanted to yell at her, ask why she was treating him like that, why she had disappeared instead of talking… Damian felt like a mess of things he didn't understand.

God... What the hell was going on with him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Cute things, tw things, smut things coming... That's the warning...
> 
> Love y'all  
💜🖤


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hallucinations, you occupy  
My imagination, running wild  
New sensations, sweet temptations  
I can't tell what's real and what's
> 
> Hallucinations - PVRIS

Raven left the library as fast as she could, her brain working faster than it could, trying to reason what the hell had happened in that library and why she had let it happen... If Hunter had not come to her, what would she have done? If Hunter hadn't caught them in the act, would she have been carried away by the warm touches and kisses and the heat that consumed her when he pressed her against the bookshelf, making her moan instinctively as he pressed his waist against hers...? She didn't even want to imagine...

She walked as fast as she could to her bedroom, trying not to look back when Damian called her and trying to ignore the buzzing in her ear, the tingling in her legs, the heat in her stomach and the ghostly sensation of his touch under her shirt... That was all a bad idea, a very bad idea and now she had all these new sensations mingling inside her...

Raven was almost breathless as she entered the room slamming the door harder than necessary and flung herself onto the bed ignoring Tara Markov's curious gaze on the bed next to hers.

\- "Raven? Did something happen?" - Raven took a deep breath, the pillow on her face trying to ignore Tara's voice in the background... She was afraid to end up talking too much... Everything was still very fresh in her mind.

\- "No... Nothing happened... I just... Just need some sleep..."

\- "But it's not even 22:00 yet... It's really early to sleep... How was the meeting with Damian?" - She didn't want to hear that name, so she just kept ignoring it with her eyes closed and the pillow on her face for a few minutes. Tara wasn't the best option for a conversation about what she was feeling.

\- "It was normal..." - Raven took a deep breath and took the pillow from her face, looking up - "I'm fine... This meeting was a mistake... I don't know why Rose insists on trying to put me and this boy in pairs... It's just stupid..."

\- "She thinks it will make you a couple... Especially after you kiss at the party..." - Tara grunted going back to the book itself - "Why? Did you fight again?"

\- "No..." - Raven snorted and turned to Tara hugging the pillow - "No, we didn't fight... Quite the contrary..." - Raven grunted, her cheeks getting hot - "But he's just annoying... That's enough to get me crazy..."

\- "He's just annoying you, you know that..." - She giggled. - "I mean, I don't see him being that, teasing anyone but you... He's pretty violent to other guys and usually ignores 90% of them assaults from the other girls... But you seem to be special..."

\- "Great way to be special..."

\- "Look... Boys are complicated... They are taught not to show any romantic feelings..." 

\- "This is bullshit... Garfield is very romantic with you and you aren't into him..."

\- "Who says I'm not?" - Tara arched an eyebrow and then shook her head - "Anyway, what I mean is that you need to open your field of vision... Maybe that's his way of saying..."

\- "His way of saying what, Tara?"

\- "His way of saying he has a crush on you..." - Tara closed the book - "You can see he has something for you..."

\- "You're crazy..."

\- "I'm not... I know this sounds like something Rose would say, but you can see from a distance that he looks at you, that he always looks for you in class... The least he feels for you is a crush and a horny..." - Raven rolled her eyes - "And I can almost say it's reciprocal..."

\- "What? No... No... Definitely not..."

\- "No?"

\- "No.."

\- "Then why does it look like you're going up the wall at any moment? You just met him and you're shaking like a branch in the wind... Your cheeks are red and something hot has happened... You never look messy like this..."

\- "I don't know what you're talking about... And yes, you're sounding like Rose... And that's not a compliment..."

\- "The queen of denial..." - Tara laughed, leaning back on the bed - "Look, if you want to talk to someone later, know that I'm here... I will not put up posters at school with what you tell me... I know how to be very discreet about some secrets..."

\- "It scares me how many secrets you know in this school..."

\- "You don't imagine how much..."

\- "Okay, that wasn't at all reassuring..."

\- "Anyway..." - She laughed - "Whatever... Apparently you will close in your shell of secrets then... If you need to vent..."

She took a deep breath and nodded, too uncertain if Tara was trying to be her friend or if she wanted another secret from someone to keep... Raven didn't usually reveal much to her, the only thing she had told was the kiss on the party and because Rose had already told in the Rose way before...

Raven sat on the bed and took the math books, sheet of paper and a pencil to read and study, calculations would help her not to think too much ... If she could focus on the first page of the calculus book and the theorems that appeared there not wondering why she had been so swiftly kissed and wondered what Tara had said.

She took a deep breath and dropped the pencil between the book after the fifth attempt to clear her head... She wanted to ask someone about that warmth she felt, Her aunt was a bit modern but too catholic to talk about kissing boys and feeling carnal things... And Rose would probably make a scandal and the other day, Raven would have a million condoms and erotic toys in the middle of her own things...

It would have to be Tara...

If Tara was willing to keep something from Raven, Raven needed a secret from her to keep back... And sentimentally speaking, Raven was good at seeing other people lying, she would know if she lied.

And she knew exactly what to ask.

\- "Tara..."

\- "Mmmmm?" - The blonde girl grunted without looking at Raven, eyes running over the screen of the phone

\- "Do you like Garfield?"

\- "What?" - Raven now had the girl's attention on her, the big blue eyes on her. She seemed to think for a moment before answering with a negative nod. - "No... Of course not... He's a jerk, why would I like him?"

\- "Well... You said..."

\- "Mmmmm? No..."

\- "I said you're not into him and you said, 'Who says I'm not?'"

\- "Oh..."

\- "So..."

\- "Maybe..." - Tara shrugged - "Maybe I think he's cute, maybe he's interesting and maybe I have a crush on him... But it's not like I'm crawling because of him..."

\- "You kiss, right?"

\- "From time to time... It's nothing serious..."

\- "And you feel... _Heat_?"

\- "What?" - Tara turned to Raven again - "Wait, what are you asking me? If I feel a _heat kissing Garfield?_"

\- "Yeah..."

\- "What kind of _heat_?"

\- "Well... It's complicated to explain with words... But... You know, rising from under your stomach and consuming your whole body, each cell gets a discharge and you feel like you're melting... And each time that he touches some of your skin, it's like that touch has the power to burn... And then you get carried away because you get addicted to the short circuit that touch causes you... You feel like a like a Christmas tree, lit, burning and on fire... Like you're being burned alive and you start to enjoy being burned because it's good, it feels good.... And then you get this dirty feeling because you're too addicted to the heat that touch can cause you, and you want more... More than his fingertips on your waist, more than hot kisses on your lips... You feel like you're going to suffocate if you don't have it all over yourself, in the confines of your body... Inside you..."

\- "O-oh ..." - Tara had the two wide blue sapphires staring at Raven, who now felt her cheeks get hot, why she had detailed it that way?

That's why she didn't like to talk when her head was full... She always talked too much...

\- "Do you want to know? Forget it..." - Raven shook her head quickly.

\- "Are you asking me about kissing someone and get wet and horny about it?"

\- "..."

\- "Raven... If you want to say something, say it..." - Raven leaned against the bed, biting the inside of her mouth

\- "Mmmmm... I think that's it..."

\- "Oh..."

\- "Don't make this face..."

\- "You're a virgin... I should remember that..."

\- "What's the big deal about it...? Like, why does everyone have to keep reminding me that I'm a virgin at 17? It's normal... Sex is just... Sex... No big deal..."

\- "Well, it might be... But you will get through it sometime..."

\- "I know... But I don't want to feel pressured to have sex with someone just because everyone always remembers that I'm a virgin all the time..."

\- "Hey, Raven... Relax... I don't want to push you to lose your virginity... It was just a comment about you not feeling comfortable yet talking about sexual matters... Main coming from someone like you, sex seems to be a taboo for you and your aunt... You can't even say that you got wet by kissing someone a little harder without getting a pink cheeks like a tomato"

\- "I don't... I didn't do that.." - Raven muttered 

\- "See? The pink cheeks with something natural..."

\- "Hmmm..." - Raven took a deep breath and closed her eyes - "Whatever... You didn't answer my question..."

\- "Mmmm ... What was it?"

\- "If when you kiss Garfield you feel it..."

\- "Ah..." - Tara stopped for a few seconds looking at some point - "Raven... Didn't you happen to kiss anyone before Damian? And wait, what was that kiss? Did you feel this way when you kissed Damian Wayne at the party? Or did another situation happen?"

\- "No! Of course not!" - Raven grunted, lying more to herself than to Tara - "Of course I had kissed someone before Damian and of course I didn't feel it when Damian kissed me... There was that boy, Zatara..."

\- "Oh I remember him... Last year's party... Very sticky and boring... I remember he texted us all asking why you wouldn't take him out on a date... It was a torture..."

\- "And Joey too..."

\- "He doesn't count, Joey and you were two children... You didn't even understand exactly what was dating..."

\- "We were 12 years old, Tara..."

\- "Children... What did you do? You walked hand in hand and shared cotton candy..."

\- "He kissed me once..."

\- "Oh God, Raven, it doesn't change the fact that you were two children..."

\- "Whatever... The question was for you..."

\- "Okay... Do you want to know if I'm horny when Garfield and I kiss?"

\- "If that's the name of what I told you..."

\- "Hmmm... Yes... But I didn't quite understand what this has to do with the first question..."

\- "No... No need to look at me with that face, I really want nothing to do with Garfield other than friendship..."

\- "Hmmm... So why are you asking me about?"

\- "Nothing... Just curiosity..."

\- "A very specific curiosity, but... Yes, of course... When things get too hot, yes..."

\- "Everytime...?"

\- "No... I mean, there are situations and situations... If things get hot, you know it gets hot... So you just let yourself go and your body reacts..." - Raven nodded slowly... Yes she felt that everything was too hot and yes she got carried away, and yes, she wanted to get carried away, especially when he pressed his waist against hers, when she noticed how much he wanted her.

\- "And how did it end? I mean, do you just walk away?"

\- "What? No...!" - Tara looked at a lost point of the room - "Always ends in sex..."

Oh...

Raven's mouth was almost open and looking at Tara...

She knew this was what she would hear, but still, it felt strange... Would she have let it come to that? Now, at that moment, she didn't know...

And she feared that during the heat of the moment the answer would be yes… God the image of him physically playing with her made her legs tremble and her stomach twitch.

\- "Why?"

\- "Mmmmm... Nothing, I said... Curiosity..." - She took a deep breath scribbling the corner of the paper.

\- "Just curious?"

\- "Yes, Tara..." - Raven took a deep breath - Don't look at me with this face, nothing happened between Damian and me..."

\- "I didn't say anything... You're nervous, thoughtful, asking objective questions, it's very hard for me to not think things..."

\- "You are thinking wrong..." - Raven grumbled closing the book - "Well... I need sleep... I have no head to study calculations and I really hate theorems..."

\- "Okay, you're very nervous and it doesn't even make sense..."

\- "Whatever..." - Raven rolled her eyes lying down again - "Hmmm... You shouldn't take long to sleep... You missed the first class today, i wouldn't advise missing the first tomorrow too..."

\- "It's 22:00, Raven... Not even your ultra-Catholic aunt sleeps so soon..."

\- "But my ultra-Catholic aunt doesn't have classes at 8:30 AM..." - Raven grunted, turning off the lamplight

\- "You're running..."

\- "Good night, Tara..."

\- "This, run away Raven..."

\- "Don't forget to set the alarm clock to wake you up..."

\- "Whatever..." - Tara grunted holding a giggle that insisted on wanting to leave the blonde girl's lips

Raven took a deep breath and closed her eyes, pressing hard to force them to stay closed.

Tonight again would really be hard to sleep.

_________________________________________________________

Raven woke up feeling her head heavy

It felt like the weight of the world was concentrated on her head and that was bad... Too bad, she could barely open her eyes to the brightness of the room.

Surely it was the fault of her brain thinking too much... She tried to sleep and not think anymore, but she couldn't, her head was nowhere else than in the 13th session of the library.

\- "Raven, are you ok? We're already late for class..."

\- "I'm... With a headache..." -Raven grunted at the covers over her head, as if trying to cover the daylight coming through the window. She kept her eyes closed, it was as if she had drunk bottles and more bottles of wine and now had a horrible hangover.

Tara walked over to her and put her hand on Raven's forehead and she thanked her for being very cold.

\- "You have a fever, you should go to the nursery..."

\- "It's probably just a flu starting..."

\- "You were fine yesterday... How did this happen?"

\- "I don't know... I couldn't sleep..."

\- "Mmmm... Do you want me to take you to the doctor?"

\- "No need, I'll sleep some more and if I don't feel better when I wake up, I'll go there alone..."

\- "Okay... Anything you text me or Rose... You know she doesn't attend classes..."

\- "Okay..." - Raven nodded and Tara left the room, leaving her alone with her infernal headache and a discomfort that made no sense.

Raven almost never felt bad, but when she got sick it was as if a truck passed her... Several times... But strangely, she didn't feel that bad...

She had a fever and a headache, but she no longer had any symptoms of body aches or anything else... Raven began to wonder that she was allergic to thinking too much.

Raven couldn't sleep again, and since that headache didn't give way, she decided to go to the ward for a painkiller... She didn't want to have a seizure for anything.

She took a deep breath trying to stop the pain at least until she got dressed and left. She growled angrily when she couldn't find a sunglasses in the middle of her stuff, surely that was something she'd have to buy later.

Raven walked slowly to the nursery, watching the empty hallways and silence on the college campus and enjoying the light breeze beating on her face, alleviating the discomfort she was feeling and helping her push all the memories of her moments with Damian to the back of her mind, in a chest of memories she should forget.

\- "Hey goth girl..." - A voice, a familiar voice, called her from a hallway as she passed distractedly, trying to lock all the memories in her chest deep in her mind.

\- "Hmm?" - Raven turned slowly to find Hunter Prince leaning against a pillar with his arms crossed, his tie loose, his shirt sleeves tucked to his elbow, his cropped hair trying to look sloppy almost exactly the way Damian was at school...

_Aside from the fact that Damian looked like a young and reckless god in that style... Wait, what?_

\- "Raven, right?"

\- "Hmmm... Yes...?" - Raven blinked twice, trying to ignore the heat rising in her cheeks; she had been caught with Damian exactly by the boy who was now looking at her as if she were a piece of meat ready to be devoured.

Raven instinctively tugged at the hem of her skirt, as if it might make it bigger.

\- "I wanted to apologize for yesterday..."

\- "Uh, it was nothing..." - Raven swallowed hard - "That was a mistake..."

\- "You and Damian didn't fight because of me, right? I really don't want to disturb the two of you..."

\- "No! T-there's nothing between us... There's nothing between us..."

\- "But you two were... very intimate... I thought-"

\- "It was a mistake, Hunter... It will not happen again..." - Raven took a deep breath - "And I would appreciate if you could forget that... And not comment with anyone..."

\- "Oh, okay... My mouth is a grave... Damian has already given me a reminder if anyone knows he was kissing the high school witch girl..."

\- "Excuse me? I-I didn't understand what you meant..."

\- "Oh... No... Forget Raven... I shouldn't be saying that kind of thing to you..."

\- "Hunter, if you have something to say, just say it... I doubt you stopped me just to say you're sorry..."

\- "Hmmm..." - He rubbed his chin thoughtfully - "Okay, if you insist... But, Damian punched me when you left... Said it would be just the first warning... That was trying to put you in his sex list... You were the next slut he was going to fuck... But no one could know that you were having something... I found it very low what he said about you... So he punched me for shut me up... You know, spoiled, rich boys like him have a reputation to preserve... They can't be seen with ordinary and weird girls..." - Hunter shrugged, putting his hands in his pocket.

Raven was gaping, her eyes seemed to burn and she could almost hear the noise of something breaking inside her... She just didn't know what it was... Raven used it to push the memories back into the chest.

How could she feel something breaking inside her if she shouldn't even care what Damian thought of her?

And how dare he call her a slut?  
Damian was definitely a dead man for Raven...

\- "Raven, are you ok?"

\- "I am... Of course I am..." - She grunted, looking away... 

She didn't trust Hunter, but the puffiness on his face was enough to prove to Raven that he had taken a punch... And part of her, a big part, almost believed it all...

He had bet she was going to his party, right? He might as well have bet to play with her feelings now...

Right?

\- "So... I was thinking... Since you and Damian have nothing serious... Maybe you could go to the fair with me..." - Raven blinked twice looking at him without understanding

\- "What?"

\- "I'm calling you for a date, Raven... We could go out for an ice cream or a student fair..."

\- "Ah..." - Raven nodded slowly, if she nodded faster, probably would have a worse migraine - "Hmmm... Look Hunter, very nice of you come tell me this and I appreciate your discretion regarding yesterday but... I'll have work at the fair and... I'm not in the mood to go out with you... Actually with anyone... And you shouldn't be seen with an ordinary and strange girl like me either so... Maybe you should call another girl..."

\- "You're dismissing me?" - Raven felt a twinge of anger in his tone and took a step back... Hunter wasn't known to be very understandable when received a no - "I'm nice to you and you dismiss me?"

\- "Don't take it to the personal, Hunter..."

\- "Maybe you deserved to be deceived by Wayne... Stupid little girl..." - He grunted as he passed her, not before muttering that it wasn't over, leaving Raven frightened and worried about what it might mean. Raven had heard rumors about Hunter not knowing how to get a no from a girl.

She would definitely talk to Rose about this at the end of class... Rose had said she would go to the fencing class at the end of the break and then see if she was all right ... Rose would definitely keep Hunter away and Raven herself. She would feel safe with her bodyguard-and-best-friend by her side.

Raven didn't understand how he could be Jon's half brother and be the son of Princess Diana Prince and journalist Clark Kent. Jon was like a little angel who had fallen among mortals, had those heaven-blue eyes, hair with little black curls and cheeks that made Raven's hand itch from so much wanting to squeeze... He was a sweet boy and always gentleman and respectful, always rosy-cheeked when Raven addressed him. Diana was a princess, always polite and polite and graceful and Clark was an adult version of Jon... Hunter was nothing like that, he was a spoiled, nervous and definitely evil guy. Raven had seen him mistreat Jon more than once, just because he is his half brother...

Raven walked back stunned to the medical bay, being greeted by a smiling doctor Jhonz, the well-known doctor between the wealthy Wayne, Allen, Cury, Jordan, Prince and the Kent... He was attentive and always made everything quiet around him and even though he shared his attention with the hospital and clinic, he always made small shifts in the small, white, airy, clear ward of the San Francisco Academy.

As expected, Raven had a fever that wasn't too high, but it should be noted, a fever of 39 ° and a headache that caused her to be dragged for exams to see if it was something that deserved a little more attention... But in the end, the assumption was a cold and Raven was placed on observation on the stretcher, surrounded by Meghan Morse and Emiko Queen... The latter in particular, who occasionally looked at whether Raven had a fever and gave Raven deadly looks.

1) Raven knew she was from Damian's small and not very quiet fanclube, even though she said she liked a girl... She just looked at Raven with that deadly look every time Raven looked at Damian

2) Raven was sure Emiko definitely didn't like her... Not at all...

Raven didn't really want to have an enemy in Emiko, so she just didn't look at her and just answer the things she asked about pain and class... Raven didn't even want to believe she was going to have to face Emiko's judgmental look every day for a long time in the extra-curricular classes.

Raven took a deep breath letting her head rest on the stretcher pillow after the second hour there, was a quiet and peace she had not had in a long time and the medicine given to lower the fever and make the headache cease along with the lack of sleep at dawn began to make Raven sleepy ...

She could close her eyes and just doze off ...

If Rose's voice didn't flood the room causing her to jump up and Raven find a pair of green eyes with her friend, looking at her with a certain mixture of relief and agony... As if he meant to say something but he didn't know how to say it... But each time Raven met those eyes, Hunter's voice came in her head and Raven used it to control her thoughts so they wouldn't come out of the chest deep in her mind... She didn't would give in...

That didn't mean that sometimes they didn't escaped...

Damian had broken his arm, she herself made the diagnosis after seeing both Emiko and Meghan feeling her wounded arm like a ripe fruit... She almost felt shudder as her fingers found the warm, soft skin of Damian's arm. She had to use all her strength to push the memories of that same arm around her waist into her mental chest again.

_"You were the next slut he was going to fuck..."_

Raven couldn't look at him without remembering what Hunter had planted in her mind... And because of this, Raven ended up sounding rude and indifferent than she really was...

And finding Damian's confused look around, as if he didn't understand why she treated him with such indifference...

Apparently, Damian would have to plaster and stay under observation during the day, with pain medications being administered even though he acted like a 5-year-old refusing to drink the drugs saying he was fine and had already broken his arm at other times...

Raven sat there in the infirmary until late afternoon, watching Damian be visited by a legion of girls, receiving a call from what looked be his father and a video call from Tim Drake, his brother she had met at the party.

Not because she wanted to see it, but because she just couldn't leave the ward.

1) Djinn and hee Damian fan club just shut the medical bay door, they just stood there as if Damian was undergoing surgery to remove a cancer... Every now and then stopping Meghan or Dr Jhonz asking if Damian was fine and if he needed anything.

2) because Dr Jhonz thought it might be better for her to stay a little longer watching after her fever reappears at almost 39°C.

Raven would remain on watch until the end of the day to avoid a seizure and everything she didn't needed now and have a seizure... She could stay there reading math books, talking to Rose and avoiding at all costs bringing unwanted memories and exchanging glances that made her want to hit him.

But that definitely didn't stop her from fighting a mental battle over not thinking about the night before.

Raven still processed in her mind what had happened in the library, how she gave in so easily to a kiss, how she felt her legs like jellies as he curled his hand into her tugging hair, how instinctively she let a moan slip from her lips when he pressed his waist against hers and how she was willing to lose herself in that heat she felt as she noticed his hands playing with the curve of her breast.

God, she just had to cross her legs harder now as she remembered the details, as if trying to have some control over the new sensations taking over her body when they met their eyes... Sapphire and Emerald battling for answers they didn't even understand.

It was hard to keep up all day but she managed not to look at him every 10 minutes, and Raven could just ignore the warmth his glances caused her... She could push the increasingly easy memories into the mental chest and could increasingly feel contempt inside her, the seed Hunter had thrown at her about what Damian had said or not said about her had sprung and was poisoning her completely...

Raven sometimes wondered what it would be like to just punch that beautiful cinnamon face... Other times she just wondered what it would be like to have that same cinnamon face between her legs... It was an explosive and dangerous combination inside her and she was afraid of what might come out of it. She urgently needed to go to her room, take a cold shower and just let herself be swallowed by the darkness of the night without having to see those emeralds staring at her, making her feel weak and naked.

By the end of the day, Raven was released from the unexplained fever ready to go back to her own room and catch up with her studies, since she had missed her school day... She just didn't know if she could focus on them...

She took a deep breath walking to the dorms, determined to lock Damian and everything that had happened since the damn party in her mind's chest.. Damian's kisses made her weak and Hunter's poison hurt her... She'd lock that up too...

She'd lock Damian in that corner of her mind the rest of the day, the rest of the week, and the rest of the year... Whatever that kissed in the library woke her up, it would be locked there, in that corner.

He wouldn't be like a ghost, like a hallucination to her...

In the days that passed, Raven tried her best to avoid contact with Damian. Every time she saw him looking at her as if expecting an explanation for her coldness, Hunter's voice rang in her mind and Raven had to push into that mental chest the urge to punch Damian...

Even during student union meetings and between conversations with the teachers, Raven tried to talk as little as possible to Damian, answering only what was necessary and the indifference that had become almost common to her... Completely ignoring the fire that lit inside her every time he was near...

And that went on for almost a month, as the fair was approaching, and then Damian simply seemed to decide not to want to know more... He started not looking where Raven was and not trying to talk to her anymore. Damian simply ignored Raven's presence in the places exactly the way she was doing, that was enough that, with the distance between them, the rumors that the two had ended whatever they had spread throughout the school.

Finally November came and all the students were getting ready for the Thanksgiving break, the New Year's Eve ball and of course for the fair idealized by Rose and company. There were a lot of good tent ideas for all sorts of things, and the teachers accepted the idea of handing out extra points to those who not only presented the best tent ideas, but also the tents that raise the most money for the prom...

Rose was overjoyed by the idea and Raven just wanted it to be a terrible nightmare, the idea of spending 4 hours of a locked Sunday in a room with children almost wanted to make her sick again.

The idea was a hit with the school community, to avoid confusion and messy people in the school environment, they came up with the idea of selling fair passes and they sold out even before Raven could say "this is crazy" with Rose... Surely she would have too many kids to babysit on the day of the fair... Raven felt a great urge to punch herself when she remembered that she would have to do this along with Damian... 4 hours with noisy, messy kids on her side and one evil and stupid boy on the other...

If she didn't kill herself, she would kill someone...

Raven had told Rose about what Hunter had said, omitting some parts of what had happened in the library and Rose just thought Hunter was making up some stupid rumor... According to Rose, Damian had come to her many times to find out what he had done to Raven and if something was wrong or why Raven was being so indifferent to him, and for the silver-haired girl, she was sure Damian would not play that way with Raven and that surely he was falling for Raven in every possible and impossible way... Somehow Rose seemed to know something Raven didn't even realize...

That was enough to plant another seed on Raven, the question of how far Hunter might be lying, and what it meant to Damian to go after Rose looking for answers ... It wasn't the first time they'd fought and barely looked at each other. it probably wouldn't be the last time ... They hated each other since the first day they'd met, those kisses were just the heat of the moment, meant nothing to either of them ...

Right?

It was a terrible situation that lasted for 2 months, until the day of the fair. Aunt Alice drove everyone to the school car at the appointed time, and Raven said goodbye to her and Rose (who would be in the kiss tent) walking slowly into the room where they would leave the infernal children. Raven was carrying in her coat pocket countless types of headache drugs... If by the end of the night she didn't kill anyone, maybe she needed those remedies.

Not far from where the room was chosen, Raven seriously considered giving up all this, sending Rose a fuck and going home, but just took a deep breath and walked back to find a Damian sitting on a carpet surrounded by 3 children... They seemed willing to knock him down and he tried his best not to fall.

Raven stopped leaning against the doorjamb, watching the scene of Damian lying on the floor, defeated, with 3 pairs of small arms running around him and shouting "we beat the evil uncle Damian"

And strangely, she felt a comfortable warmth in her chest at the sight of it...

\- "Oh... A pretty girl has come..." - A little girl with round eyes and short black hair whispered to Damian. The other two children, another little girl and a boy, both blond and very energetic, stopped running at once, bumping into the first girl.

\- "Ah... Raven..." - Damian grunted, swallowing hard as he rose from the floor - "Mmmm... These are... The first... The Allen twins and Harper's daughter..."

\- "Mmmm..." - Raven nodded slowly, walking with her arms crossed to the room - "Hi, kids... I'm Raven..."

\- "Uh.. You're Raven... My aunt talks a lot about you..."

\- "Aunt?'

\- "Will you take care of us too, pretty lady?"

\- "We were playing superheroes, I'm an archer like Aunt Emiko...!"

\- "And I run!"

\- "And I run even harder! I am the fastest girl in the world!"

\- "Here we go again..."

\- "I'm the fastest in the universe"

\- "I'm the fastest of the above universe"

\- "I said it first!"

\- "No, I said it first!"

\- "Hey ... You guys can be fast together..." - Raven grunted, bending down as the two of them were about to start a fight. She had a little, almost no experience in child conflict, her cousins kept fighting over anything.

\- "We can?"

\- "Sure..." - Raven smiled at them ignoring the look Damian gave her, full of a feeling she didn't understand but barely hiding a smile.

\- "And you?"

\- "Are you going to be a girl superhero too? Uncle Damian was an evil man... We beat him... And he promised to let us play with his sword if we beat him..." - Raven opened her mouth to ask Damian if it was true, but he just shrugged crossing his arms

\- "I... I sincerely hope he didn't bring a sword to school..."

\- "Of course I brought... Being prepared is a prerequisite for victory..."

\- "So you will hide this goddamn knife... "

\- "It's a katana..."

\- "I don't care what the freak is, you won't put in the hands of 4 year olds children...!"

\- "TT... At their age I already knew how to cut someone in at least 3 different ways..."

\- "They are babies, Damian..."

\- "A good warrior starts training in early age..."

\- "No one needs to be a good warrior... Where were you raised? In the medieval era?"

\- "And you apparently live in a fairy tale where everything is safe and sound... Children need to learn to fight and defend themselves early on..."

\- "God have mercy on anyone who has your child of one day..." - Raven rolled her eyes.

\- "Are you guys daatiiiiiiiiing?"

\- "What?"

\- "No!"

\- "Definitely not..."

\- "You fight like daddy and mommy..."

\- "I would never date a guy who wants 4 year olds to go around brandishing a sword..."

\- "And I would never date a girl who has a reputation as a witch..."

\- "Uncle Damian and the pretty lady are going to date and kiss and get married and have kids..." - The blond-haired little girl started humming around the room again, quickly being followed by the other two. Raven wanted to slap as much as she could get Damian's face, but just sat on the floor, waiting for them to get tired of it, catching the kids' attention after they seemed to get tired of humming.

Raven managed to keep them quiet for the next 30 minutes, until Damian's niece Mari'i Grayson arrived and took the peace that Lian Harper, Donald (whom Raven preferred to call Don) and Dawn Allen were. An hour later, Raven makeups was made of pen on her face, had hair bands tied to her hair and a plastic crown, and half an hour later she was the princess to be rescued by the prince charming and superhero Don, the world's fastest tornado with dinosaur teeth

\- "You're the sleeping beauty, Aunt Raven..." - Lian grumbled, running her little hands through Raven's hair.

\- "Sleeping Beauty?"

\- "Yes... You have to lie here and sleep and wait for the prince charming to wake you up with a true love kiss..."

\- "Mmmmmm... And when will this prince charming come?"

\- "The prince charming is Uncle Damian..."

\- "Oh..." - Raven raised an eyebrow - "Damian is far from an enchanted prince... He's more like a frog or a stupid ogre..."

\- "He is the prince!" - Mari'i grunted in Raven's ear - "He likes you Aunt Raven, mommy always says this to daddy..."

\- "Hmmmm... I don't... I don't think so Mari'i... And I don't think we should play with this..."

\- "He's the prince” - Dawn muttered, running her chubby hands over Raven's face - "And he will give you a true love kiss and you will wake up from the spell... But we have to wait 100 years!"

\- "Hmmmm ... What if this sleeping beauty here doesn't sleep? I can be a self-contained princess!"

\- "No Aunt Raven! You are a princess, you have to be saved by the prince charming..."

\- "Come uncle Damian! Let's save Princess Aunt Raven!" - Don grunted pulling Damian by the sleeve of his shirt. Raven stared at Damian for a few seconds and could barely avoid that strangely comforting feeling in her chest.

Damian had a plastic crown on his head, the completely designed plaster with what Don and Lian said were prince charming and super villain tattoos, his hair was tied up with a hair bands, he had a shirt tied around his neck and held a broom, which Don said was a brave white horse.

And he smiled, like he was being a kid again... Raven had never noticed how handsome he was smiling, how his eyes closed almost completely, how he had a dimple right in the corner of his lower lip and how he looked relaxed and happy running around the room with Don and Mari'i by his side, while Dawn and Lian "got the princess ready".

Then Raven remembered what Lian wanted and she definitely wasn't going to do it... No way would she let herself be kissed by Damian... She had already worked hard to push those memories into oblivion, she wouldn't let them go out now.

\- "Hmmm what if we play something else? I think there is a sheet of paper and pencil somewhere... We can paint...!"

\- "But what about sleeping beauty?"

\- "I want sleeping beauty!"

\- "I want to"

\- "Me too!"

And then, what was just shouts of happiness and kids playing became a huge crying club where all 4 kids screamed that they wanted Sleeping Beauty Raven.

And Raven didn't want to hear a child crying, who will say 4 noisy children crying.

_ **Think it's a stupid theater, not like you really wanted to kiss it... And then you can go for a walk around the fair and drink some water and leave Damian with these kids for a few minutes...** _

\- "What if Aunt Raven is another princess?" - Damian grumbled, glancing quickly. - "One that doesn't need a prince to wake her up?"

That didn't solve, the cries just multiplied

\- "Okay... Okay..". - Raven took a deep breath, looking at Damian threatening to stick that broom in his throat if he did anything else - "I'll be the sleeping beauty..."

\- "What? R-Raven, no!"

\- "Aunt Raven, yes!"

\- "I love yooooooooou, aunt Raven!"

\- "You are the best aunt and princess in the wooooooorld!"

\- "Uncle Damian is ashamed to kiss Aunt Raven on the mouth..."

\- "Uncle Damian is afraid of a girl!" 

\- "Uncle Damian is afraid of a girl" 

\- "Uncle Damian is afraid of kissing a girl!"

\- "No, that's not it!" - Damian muttered irritably - "That's not how things happen... I don't want to kiss her... And she doesn't want me to kiss her! Fairy tales don't exist and you can't just kiss people on the lips..." - Mari'i looked at Damian with those green eyes like a puppy, full of water while pouting her lips... 

\- "Uncle Damian is bad... I'll tell my daddy that you yelled at me! And I'll tell my grandpa too..."

\- "Damian, they're babies" - Raven muttered boredly - "Just… don't argue with them like they're grown up... Don't be more insensitive than you are."

\- "Raven, they are children, not glass..."

\- "But they break easily... Let them play as they want to play!"

\- "Uncle Damian is not a prince... He is an evil man!" - Mari'i shouted threatening to bring the whole storm of childlike crying with her again.

\- "Look, Mari'i, look at me..." - Raven said pulling the little girl's attention to her - "Your uncle Damian is an ogre, that's true... He's an idiot and insensitive, okay...? But... He just a stupid boy, okay? No need to cry, not because of him... Your uncle Damian will apologize to you and will play what you want to play... Okay?"

\- "I won't do this, Raven... Kids need lim-"

\- "Shut up, Damian, you will apologize to this beautiful girl... Now!" - Damian took a deep breath and rolled his eyes - "Now, Damian..."

\- "Okay..." - Damian snorted - "I'm sorry for yelling at you, Mari'i..." 

\- "On your knees, Uncle Damian, like an prince charming!" 

\- "What?" - Damian almost shouted, earning an angry look from Raven. Damian rolled his eyes and knelt in front of the two girls.

\- "I'm sorry Miss... I didn't mean to hurt you or hurt your feelings... I don't know what I did, but it wasn't my intention..." - Damian glanced quickly at Raven before looking back into the green eyes of the little girl in front of him. For some reason, Raven felt those words inside her - "Can you forgive me and forgive my bad behavior... Mari'i?" - Mari'i looked at Raven and then at Damian and opened her arms, throwing herself into the boy's neck. 

-"Of course Uncle Damian! But only if you are the prince charming! Aunt Raven is beautiful, you will be the prince of a very pretty lady..."

\- "Ahnnn…" - He scratched his throat and then stood up and Raven could see a faint pink tinge to his cheeks - "Whatever..."

\- "Yes!" 

\- "Uncle Damian is the prince again!" 

\- "Uncle Damian will kiss on the mouth!"

\- "My daddy will know that!"

\- "Ew kiss on the mouth!"

\- "That's how the princess is awake, Dawn... My dad told me that only adults can kiss like this, so princesses are big girls..."

\- "My daddy kisses Aunt Barbara like that ... And not my mommy..."

\- "Raven you... You know that... You don't have to do everything they want, right?"

\- "I know... But kids are noisy..."

\- "That doesn't mean you have to give in... And... Accept... _That_..."

\- "Damian, stop being such an idiot... If you try something more than something staged I'll just make you swallow that broomstick..."

\- "I wouldn't try anything you didn't want..."

\- "I'm not so sure... Being the idiot you are..."

\- "What? What are you talking about?"

\- "Nothing..." - Raven grumbled, looking back at Dawn deciding their roles in jest and avoiding looking at Damian, who now had a serious frown on his face and a look of confusion on Raven.

\- "Mari'i and Don, you are the knights of the prince charming!"

\- "I'm a girl! I don't want to be a knight! I want to be the dragon! A dragon girl!"

\- "There is no dragon girl"

\- "Yes there is!"

\- "Doesn't exist!"

\- "Yes there is!"

\- "Doesn't exist!"

\- "There may be..." - Damian muttered - "Otherwise, who will take care of the baby dragon eggs?"

\- "I said it existed!" - Mari'i grumbled sticking her tongue out - "Raaaaawwwwwr I am the dragon guarding the tower of the sleeping princess..."

\- "I'm the fairy!"

\- "I'm the fairy too!"

\- "Aunt Raven has to sleep!"

\- "And let's wait for all the grass to grow around... It's a long time..."

\- "Long time..."

\- "100 years!" - Mari'i grunted with the small arched eyebrows - "My mom comes to pick me up before that!"

\- "Aunt Raven, sleep now!"

\- "Hmmmmmmmmmmm... Okay..." - Raven grunted, lying on the carpet on the floor.

\- "Uncle Damian has to fight the dragon for the sleeping princess!"

\- "Uncle Damian can't hurt me, my daddy is his brother and he will fight with him..."

\- "Mari'i you talk too much!" - Don grunted waving the plastic sword - "You speak, speak, speak... It's a chatterbox!"

\- "I'm not a chatterbox!"

\- "You're a chatterbox dragon!"

\- "Hey, will you fight?" - Raven grunted, leaning on her elbows - "I think then I can get up and we can play something else..."

\- "No!" - 4 little voices muttered in chorus

\- "So you have to stop fighting..." - She grunted laughing at Mari'i - "And you're not chatty, Mari'i... You're a very strong and beautiful dragon..."

\- "Wow!"

\- "Am I a pretty fairy, Aunt Raven?"

\- "Of course you are, Lian..."

\- "And I'm a handsome knight?"

\- "Prettier than the stupid prince..." - Raven smiled, sitting back down and squeezing the blond boy's cheeks with her hands, Damian looked at her silently, all 4 children around her asking if they were beautiful and she squeezing their cheeks and giving affectionate smile.

Damian didn't know she could be so good with kids like that, but something still gave him an itch behind his ear... Why she was treating him with such indifference since the day at the library.

After Raven answered all the questions about fairies and knights and dragons, Mari'i again ordered her to lie down and began to run around the room after Damian flapping her arms like wings and making raw sounds which made Raven squirm trying to hold back a laugh.

Damian really got into body and soul in the game and clearly had a huge fondness for Mari'i and when she finally got tired, Damian rolled with her on the floor, simulating the end of a battle.

\- "Now the prince charming finds the sleeping princess and is enchanted by her beauty..." - Mari'i narrated clapping her palms like she was too thrilled directing her own play.

Raven was lying on the floor with narrowed eyes so she could see Damian walking uncertainly to her. Raven could hear the sound of his shoe treading carefully on the carpet, the sound of his breath catching from running with Mari'i, and Raven felt as if she could hear a sound of heartbeat, she just couldn't tell if it was his or hers beating in her ear.

\- "Uncle Damian, like a prince!"

\- "And what does that mean, Mari'i?"

\- "You have to be kind... And you have to kneel near her... Like the prince does!"

\- "Raven I won't do this..."

\- "Are you afraid?" - Raven grunted - "Just pretend this is a damn play, they'll be pleased if you just pretend to kiss me..."

\- "I'm not afraid of anything, don't be stupid..." - He grunted

\- "Aunt Raven you don't talk!"

\- "They are very bad, Mari'i they keep talking in the middle of the play"

\- "Yeah... They don't even know how to play..."

\- "They are silly adults..."

\- "I want mommy..."

\- "Shut up Don..."

\- "Just do it, Damian... My back hurts from lying on this carpet..."

\- "Raven, I-"

\- "I'll tell Grandpa you yelled at me, Uncle Damian!"

\- "Who taught this girl to threaten?"

\- "Uncle Jason..."

\- "Of course it had to be the gorilla brain..."

\- "He's here at the party! Everyone came, even Grandpa... And I'll tell him that you were mean to me if you don't kiss the princess..."

Raven was looking at Mari'i with an arched eyebrow, that girl was like a nightmare for Damian... He didn't seem to know how to say no to her...

Or was too afraid to say...

\- "Okay, whatever..." - Damian snorted in defeat and turned to Raven.

\- "One tongue and I kill you, Damian..."

\- "As if I wanted to..." - He rolled his eyes. 

Raven took a deep breath and closed her eyes again, just clearing anything that came into her mind.

In the first second, she felt nothing, just looked like Damian had given up again until she did.

Fingers slid slowly down a lock of her hair that fell over her shoulder, then slid down her shoulder, slowly up her neck, sending shivers down her every cell. Raven had to swallow the ragged breath that threatened to rise up her throat. And then the same fingers made an almost ghostly caress on her cheek and finally rested on the nape of her neck, lifting her to his chest and slowly touching his lips to hers.

Raven felt everything and nothing at the same time. It was so simple and yet, full of things she didn't understand. Her lips just parted and she could perfectly match the taste of cinnamon she had felt all those months she had forgotten. Her heartbeat could be heard from miles away and her brain was completely upside down. Before Raven could realize, she was returning the kiss and sliding the tip of her tongue down his lower lip and before Raven could let his toothpaste taste on her tongue, he brushed it away, leaving her dizzy on the floor...

\- "And so, they were happy forever..."

\- "EW!"

\- "Ew!"

\- "Dad will know Uncle Damian has a girlfriend!"

\- "Mari..."

\- "So... I want popcorn... Uncle Damian buys me popcorn?"

\- "I want too..."

\- "I want too..."

\- "I want too..."

\- "No.... You're going to do something else now... I'm not going out to buy popcorn for anyone..."

\- "Then I'll tell dad and Uncle Jay and Grandpa that you kissed a girl in front of me and you kept sticking your tongue out like this" - Mari'i closed her eyes and stuck her tongue out. Damian took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair and Raven now wanted a hole to swallow her completely.

\- "Gross!"

\- "But I can't leave you alone here! Not with Raven doing exactly what you want... When I came back, this would be on fire..."

\- "Hey! I can take care of children..."

\- "Of course you know... Doing exactly what they want..."

\- "You're an idiot..."

\- "And you are too permissive..."

\- "I want popcorn!"

\- "I won't buy popcorn, Mari'i..."

\- "I'm going to buy this damn popcorn..." - Raven grunted getting up - "I need to drink water and... Go to the bathroom..."

\- "Hmmm... Are you sure? Mari'i can't be threatening me like this..."

\- "I'm going to drink water, Damian... I need it otherwise I'm not going to freak out here..." - Damian took a deep breath and nodded. He reached into his pocket and took out his wallet, handing Raven a $100.

\- "This is enough?"

\- "Damian I'll buy 4 or 5 popcorn, not a popcorn cart..."

\- "I don't have another..." - Of course, he had to flaunt how rich he was, Raven just rolled her eyes. And took the money, ignoring how quickly he held her fingers.

\- "I don't take long... Try not to put them in danger... Remember that they are children..."

\- "TT... What do you think I am?"

\- "A psychotic who wanted to put swords in the hand of 4 year olds..."

\- "..."

\- "Anyway... No knives or swords or any dangerous objects okay? I don't want to be sued by any parent..."

\- "Whatever..." - Raven rolled her eyes and stuffed her hands in her coat pockets, leaving the room to fetch the popcorn and just leaving Damian's presence for a little while, after almost 2 hours together in that room and after a kiss so full of sweetness and affection Raven was starting to think too much... She needed a little noise from the fair, fresh wind on her face and water to get her thoughts back in order... And the popcorn would make those kids just stay quiet even for 5 minutes.

Raven took a deep breath and started across the large grassy space of the gym that led to the space where all the tents were set up, the noise could be heard from inside the gym, but the outer space was completely deserted and the night had already covered with darkness all around the school...

Raven just quickened her pace, something that told her it wasn't safe to walk randomly around there... Her neck prickled as she realized how deserted the place was.

Raven managed to find the popcorn cart and even said hello to Rose who was blowing cocoa butter in the mouth to kiss one more person from the huge line that was forming in the tent... Apparently she and Kyle had had a kissing contest and it was all gone just too weird for Raven.

She took the popcorn, drank some water and when she thought it was well enough, decided to go back to the room... She didn't trust 100% to leave 4 noisy children in Damian's care... Apparently many parents there didn't trust either, Raven saw several other children running around the fair with huge candy cottons in hand. But before she reached half the grassy space, a strong hand held her from behind, covering her mouth tightly to keep her from screaming as she tried her best to let go, being dragged into the restroom building not far away...

\- "Shiiiii birdie... I said it wasn't over..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: A quick warning: The next chapter has trigger warning for sexual harassment and inappropriate language, so if you don't feel comfortable just PLEASE don't read to the part of the dotted line, okay? 
> 
> Love you
> 
> 💜🖤💜🖤


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This chapter contains sensitive content and this is a trigger warning for sexual harassment, rape attempted rape and inappropriate language... Read after the second dotted line if this subject bothers you or if you are sensitive to these topics

Damian left an air he didn't remember holding back when Raven came out the room door. He hated that sense of madness she had left him, and he hated feeling so weak around her.

First, she just kissed him like that in the library. He remembered the sound of her soft moan every night, it was like hallucinating him and it just made him fucked up. And then, she just became indifferent and cold... As soon as she looked at him and when she looked, her gaze was full of disgust and contempt that Damian didn't understand where it came from and so she let herself be kissed again and even telling him to not kiss her for real, she opened her mouth and he could feel the tip of her tongue tease him, triggering all the fire signals he had learned to control in those months of indifference and contempt she threw at him...

Damian felt confused, fucked up, embarrassed and messy and he hated it, he hated feeling that way...

Damian took a deep breath and threw himself into a corner of the room, watching Mari'i, Don, Dawn and Lian running around playing like dragons and at the same time thinking about nothing, he just thought about how Raven stirred him deeply from the first day he had seen her.

And how everything had changed since the kiss at the party, how they started talking more and not fighting, _how they started kissing more and not fighting_... And how suddenly everything went back to being a thick and strange curtain of contempt.

\- "Uncle Damian, are you sick?" - Mari'i muttered under her breath, stopping beside Damian, placing a chubby little hand in his hair.

Mari'i was half-niece of Damian, daughter of Richard Grayson, Damian's foster-elder brother, and Kory Anders, Damian's teacher.

Damian wouldn't admit it to anyone, but the little girl with long curly black hair, almond skin and big curious green eyes had a space in his heart that no one else had. Damian learned a lot and lived a lot that he hadn't lived in his own childhood with this 4-year-old, even though her parents were no longer together.

\- "What?"

\- "You were sad when Aunt Raven left... Are you sick?"

\- "No... I... I'm not sick and... I'm not sad... Just tired... A little tired..."

\- "Ah..." - She smiled and sat next to Damian, crossing her little legs. - "You like her, don't you Uncle Damian?"

\- "What?"

\- "You like Aunt Raven..."

\- "She studies with me, Mari'i... We are classmates so of course we like everyone..."

\- "That's not what I'm talking about, Uncle... You like her... How daddy likes Aunt Barbara... How mommy likes Uncle Roy, how grandpa likes Aunt Selina... You like her like your girlfriend..."

\- "Mari'i you're only 4, you shouldn't be thinking about this kind of conversation... And I shouldn't be listening to you..."

\- "I'm a kid... But I see how you look at her... Like an prince charming looks at the princess..." - Damian rolled his eyes

\- "I said this fairytale thing doesn't exist..."

\- "They exist... Daddy said they exist..." - She mumbled softly, her eyes downcast and her arms around her little legs. Damian took a deep breath, feeling bad that he didn't have much tact for children... How could he have tact with something he never was?

\- "I'm sorry, Mari'i..." - He grunted without looking at her - "You're a child... You tend to believe that kind of thing..."

\- "You have to be less bad, Uncle Damian..." - The little girl murmured looking at him, with those huge eyes as green as his - "If you were kinder, Aunt Raven would find you beautiful..."

\- "What?" - Damian held back a laugh, was that little girl giving him loving advice? She was exactly the same as her father, thinking that solves everything on the basis of a conversation he didn't want to have.

\- "I mean, you're handsome Uncle Damian, really handsome... But you're not a good boy... And you're mean to others... Especially to Aunt Raven... You guys are fighting like two kids... And it makes you ugly for Aunt Raven..."

\- "Ah...?" - Damian raised an eyebrow biting a laugh. It was easy to laugh with Mari'i - "Mari'i you're really Grayson's daughter... This can't be questioned..."

\- "Of course I'm my daddy's daughter... Why wouldn't I be?"

\- "You wouldn't understand..." - Damian muttered shaking his head. "You should go play with your little friends... Lian is not such a hideous dragon as you..."

\- "Running tires my beauty..." - She said, running her chubby hands through the curls of her hair

\- "Nosy like mother and narcissistic like father... You really are an Anders-Grayson..."

\- "Dad said I have to be very careful to be a detective like him..."

\- "Ah... Like Grayson was a good detective..."

\- "He is!"

\- "Whatever..." - Damian ran his hands over his face, willing not to argue with her... Raven had said: _remember they were children_...

\- "You should invite Aunt Raven to Grandpa's ball..."

\- "What?"

\- "You should stop being fearful and invite Aunt Raven to the ball... or to go out..."

\- "Why do you want to insist so much on this subject? For God's sake, you're just as annoying as your father..."

\- "Because I liked Aunt Raven..." - She smiled - And I really wanted her to be my real aunt... She plays with me, she lets me put on her makeup and comb her hair... Aunt Barbara won't let me do this to her... Neither Aunt Cassandra nor Aunt Stephanie..."

\- "Do you want someone to play with? You have your dolls, you don't need Raven for that..."

\- "My dolls aren't Aunt Raven..." - She shrugged - "You don't cuddle and kiss my dolls.... And you aren't the coolest uncle in the world when you are near my dolls..."

\- "Where did you get this idea that I'm cooler around her?"

\- "You look cool... You get red cheeks and a little pink ears and you can't talk and you sigh.... You look cool..."

\- "I am cool...! But only with you because you're a girl with great potential to be a good warrior..."

\- "Will you show me a katana?"

\- "Another time... Today Raven would kill me if I let you take anything she thinks is dangerous" - Mari'i giggled, hiding her face in her little hands.

\- "You're afraid Aunt Raven will fight you" - she said between laughs.

\- "I'm not..." - He arched an eyebrow and then began to scratch her, making the girl squirm in laughter trying to get away from Damian.

\- "Yes, you are!"

\- "No... I'm not... And that's the punishment for those who believe that the great Damian Al Ghul is afraid of someone... Tickling!"

\- "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" - She got up, running around the room and taking with her, Don, Dawn and Lian who decided to scream in chorus that he was afraid of Raven.

If his grandfather saw him now, he'd say he was embarrassing the blood, lying on the floor defeated with four untalented kids jumping over him and laughing as they petted him with little fingers and said he was afraid of a girl.

It was a totally different view from what he had grown up with.

\- "Okay... Okay... Enough..." - He grunted already tired and panting - "But let it be clear that I'm not afraid of anyone..."

\- "You have..." - Mari'i laughed shaking her feet

\- "And it's the prettiest girl in this school..."

\- "And the coolest!"

\- "You're afraid of Aunt Raven!"

\- "Speaking of Aunt Raven... She's taking soooo long... I want popcorn..."

\- "I want popcorn too..."

\- "I'm hungry..."

\- "I want my mommy... And popcorn..."

\- "Hmmm... Raven is actually taking longer than expected..." - Damian glanced at the clock noting that it had actually been longer than it would actually take to buy the popcorn and come back, about 40 minutes since she had left.

\- "We can go after her, Uncle Damian... I want popcorn..."

\- "No... You can't walk around and I can't leave you alone... But really something is not right in this, Raven never shirks responsibility..." - He took a deep breath and took the phone in his pocket looking Raven's contact between saved numbers quickly

He had saved that number when Rose said he should have his work partner number and god knows how much he opened the messaging app and wanted to send a message asking what had happened...

And god knows how many times he just closed the app and kept the phone angry with himself and her for being so fickle.

\- "Do you think Aunt Raven is in danger?"

\- "No... I don't know... There can be no danger at this fair, there are only students and... Parents of students..."

\- "You should go after her, Uncle Damian... Maybe Aunt Raven got hurt..."

\- "I can't leave you alone..."

\- "Call daddy..." - Mari'i suggested smiling - "He and Uncle Jason and Uncle Tim are all here... And Grandpa too... They can look for Aunt Raven..." - Damian bit the inside of his cheek while pressed the call button, the photo of Raven filling the screen of his cell phone.

Damian muttered a curse in every language that came to his mind as the call went straight to voicemail.

\- "This wasn't at all right... Something didn't smell right there..."

\- "Call someone, Uncle Damian... I don't want Aunt Raven to be hurt..."

\- "She didn't hurt herself, Mari'i... She couldn't have hurt herself... She just couldn't have hurt herself going to buy popcorn... The school is full of people, if she had hurt herself, someone would have come." This is to say that she was injured... Isn't it?" - Damian could almost feel hyperventilating.

Could she have been hurt or... Or worse?

Damian took a deep breath and dialed Jason's number and with a few words asked him to call the silver-haired stall girl, Tim and Dick to search Raven for the fair. It didn't take more than 15 minutes for Jason to say he didn't have any girls with the same characteristics Damian had said and it just weighed differently on Damian's chest.

Raven just wouldn't go away, she could hate him, but she was responsible and would never leave a responsibility behind...

And she wouldn't run away with his money... God, he knew how proud she was...

That wasn't right, something had happened to her.

It didn't take another 10 minutes for everyone to be standing outside the room and a worried Damian leaving, God if something had happened to her, he could kill a person at that moment.

\- "When did she leave?"

\- "About an hour ago... I said I was going to drink water, go to the bathroom and then buy popcorn because Mari'i asked..."

\- "I saw her at the fair" - Rose mumbled - "She waved to me from afar and was holding 5 packets of popcorn in her hands... So she just walked out of the gym..."

\- How long has it been? Damian asked, feeling his muscles tense.

\- "About 30 minutes ago, or 20... I don't know..."

\- "It wouldn't take 30 minutes to get here from the gym..." - Jason muttered scratching his chin - "Walking slowly, it would take at most 10 minutes..."

\- "Are you sure she just can't be gone? Or have meet someone?" - Dick muttered looking at Damian

\- "She's not like this!" - Damian almost shouted, concern for Raven beginning to erode him in a different way inside.

\- "Hey, calm down, Damian... We're just analyzing the odds"

\- "While you are analyzing stupid odds she may have been injured somewhere..."

\- "Look, he's kinda high but... He's right" - Rose muttered, with arms crossed over her chest. Damian had never seen that girl so serious... Maybe when she broke his nose a year ago - "I came with her... Her aunt was at the fair, with her cousins and her uncle... She just wouldn't leave alone and I called her, she doesn't answer the phone..."

\- "She could be out of battery..." - Tim grumbled.

\- "No... Raven doesn't run out of battery on her cell phone... She always leaves her phone with enough battery to call for help or call if needed... She doesn't hang on social network... And she never leaves my calls drop in voicemail and I called 3 times...!"

\- "Okay... So let's look around here and the gym..."

\- "Damian..." - Rose called him, she was really serious... There was no jesting sound in her voice - "Raven told me that Hunter sought her... Shortly after you gathered to decide the fair thing and said he wanted to go out with her..." - Rose took a deep breath - "I saw him at the fair walking with the Mammoth... I mean, Baran Flinders... Maybe we should look for them... First..."

\- "Hunter?" - Damian blinked a few times trying to react

\- "Yeah... Raven said this bastard didn't react very well when she said she didn't want to go out with him..." - Damian nodded slowly, putting the pieces together and then everything seemed to fall like a bomb in his head.

\- "I'm going to kill this son of a bitch..." - Before his brothers could hold him, Damian ran down the hall. He gained a few minutes of advantage, his brothers simply couldn't decide who would stay with the children and who had the strength to stop him in the state he was in.

The only one who was unwilling to think and go after Damian was exactly the girl who was now pulling an Brass knuckles from her pocket.

\- "For God's sake, don't you decide anything? Tim, call the police, your father and the principal ... Jason, Dick come with me... Tim stays with the children... If that's what I'm thinking Damian or I are going to kill Hunter..." - Rose shouted running after Damian, capturing what might be happening.

\- "Brass knuckles?" - Jason mumbled - "I liked her...."

\- "Shut up and let's go, Jason..."

He ran almost across the lawn unsuccessfully, the noise of the fair didn't help him hear any calls for help or any other noise and he doubted that Hunter was near, he would not risk hurting anyone in the eyes of others. Damian stopped, feeling his breath stinging through his nostrils, burning everything inside, he didn't care, he just needed to find her, to think what might happen hurt more than any pain he'd ever felt and he didn't know why he felt that way... He just couldn't bear to imagine how it would break her... She didn't deserve this...

Damian took a deep breath and rushed back toward the girls' dormitory when he heard a voice, it was whispers and someone was crying for help. Damian was on alert, that side of the school was deserted and far from the gymnasium, most of the students were at the fair, there, near the dormitories there was only the chemistry lab and only crickets and those whispers...

Damian didn't think, he walked faster than he could in silence. He knew his father had given him an ultimatum, one more fight, and he would go straight to boarding school in Switzerland. But he was with hatred injected to the last remnant of his body, that crying alerted him and the thought of Hunter touching a hair from Raven made him ignore it all and go see what it was...

Concern for Raven's disappearance and what Rose had said about Hunter going after her simply poisoned him enough to bring out murderous feelings that he had long tried to hide.

________________________________________________________

_ **(If you are sensitive to explicit violence, attempted rape, sexual harassment and inappropriate language, skip to the next dotted line. Read at your own risk)** _

Damian felt his spine freeze when he saw that one of the whispers, which was crying, was exactly the girl he was looking for, she was being held by her arm, by Baran, while her body had been touched without her consent, making her scream in the midst of a failed attempt to break free. Her coat was open, the buttons on the blouse she was wearing had been unzipped and her chest was being pinched, touched, bitten and licked as she tried to pull free. And who did that to her was exactly who Damian didn't want to see, Hunter Prince.

Damian clenched his fist when he saw that Raven was bruised and only saw red when she saw him unbutton his belt and his pants.

He was going to kill those two bastards if it killed him either... He didn't care about the consequences.

\- "I told you this wasn't over, Raven... I said... You could have gone out with me, I'd treat you kindly, take you to my room and be kinder to you, but you're a bitch who like to make it hard... so i'll make it hard for you..."

\- "Hunter, let me go..."

\- "Oh, you're giving Wayne your pussy, why can't you give it to me too?"

\- "Please, this is not happening..." - He reached into her bra squeezing her breasts, making her scream for help again - "I-I have nothing with him... Let me go..."

\- "This... I love when bitches like you scream..."

\- "Hunter I... I told you not to take it to personal..." - She tried to kick him, but she had no angle to get it right and maybe too nervous to get it right.

\- "No one says no to me, princess..." - He rubbed his hip against Raven.

\- "But... but I say!"

\- "Ah... I know your type... You're all pure and innocent until someone sticks a dick in you, isn't princess? Tell me, how much is Wayne paying you to fuck you? I can afford even more..." - he pulled her hair hard - "And I'll fuck you enough to leave you without walking for days, bitch..."

\- "No... No please... Hunter I have nothing with Damian... I-"

\- "Let her go..." - Damian growled not far from where Hunter and Baran were holding her against a wall.

Damian closed his hand so hard that his hand was going numb.

\- "Well now who came to the party... I hope you're not jealous of your innocent little slut, Damian... We're among club mates, right? We can share things..."

\- "D-Damian! Damian please.... Please help me..." - She tried to let go again

\- "Shut up, bitch..." - He pushed Raven hard enough for Baran to hold on - "This is man talk"

\- "I said let her go, Hunter... She don't want you

\- "Ah buddy, whats up...? You wanted fuck her that day... We can take turns you know... These sluts can handle a hard cock rain on her..."

\- "I won't ask for a third time, Hunter... I told you to stay away from her..."

\- "Or...? What are you going to do?"

\- "You won't want to see what I can do..."

\- "Awn the bird wants to be a man for the little girl... How cute..." - Hunter gave a mischievous smile - "I bet it makes her so wet right? A man fighting over her... Imagine how hot it must be just to slide my cock inside her now" - Hunter didn't see when a fist hit his face, making his nose bleed like a red river

\- "I'LL KILL YOU, YOU BASTARD!"

\- "Idiot! Do you think you can beat me whenever you want because of a bitch?"

\- "I warned you to not touch a hair of her... And I'll kill you now..."

\- "You like to threaten ... I'll take you down, Damian Wayne ... But I won't kill you, initially not ... I'll leave you alive but like a rag, the trash that you are and then when you're ground I'll fuck her in front of you... I'm going to fuck her tight and wet pussy and make her scream and you'll have to see and hear her scream while I cum inside her... And then, it's gonna be my friend Baran's turn ... He's going to fuck her round ass, you know, anal sex is very tasty especially when the slut screams like a bitch...." - Damian lunged at Hunter with all his anger over his actions, was uncoordinated and without an attack plan and still had a cast in his arm, but managed to push Hunter to the ground and deliver some punches.

If not for the plaster and the stinging pain in his broken arm, Damian had punched Hunter to death, but Hunter managed to change positions and deliver some punches to Damian, who began to hear Raven shout to Hunter to stop hitting him, screaming for help and screaming that Baran was hurting her.

It all seemed a bit cloudy and stuffy and he didn't know if he was having some kind of concussion, everything seemed off and turning cloudy and muffled in his ear, but when a long silver hair passed pushing Hunter off Damian and he heard the voices of Dick and Jason also coming in the background, Damian knew Raven would be saved

\- "You bastard I'll kill you! You will regret looking at my friend, you bastard son of a bitch!" - And then, Damian felt as if everything had been turned off again at the same speed, like when you just reboot the system for everything to work again.

His head was heavy, his broken arm hurt, his chest hurt, but now Dick, Rose, and Jason were there and he could give in to the weight of his eyelids struggling to close. At the third heaviest wink, Dick was by his side, helping him to sit up.

\- "Hey buddy... Can you hear me? Can you hear me eh? Don't sleep, man... You'll be fine... Don't hang up again..."

\- "I'm... I'm fine, Grayson..." - Damian grunted, rising slightly, feeling the smell and the metallic taste of blood coming out of his nose. He sat back feeling the blood welling where it was injured, it all hurt and it looked like he had been run over.

Damian's heavy eyes roamed the scene now forming, searching for Raven.

Rose had blood red knuckles as she struck as many strokes as she could on Hunter's face. He was sadistic, laughing as she hit him and that was fucking her psychologically... If she continued, she would kill him.

Dick noticed that too, and when he saw that Damian wasn't going to pass out anymore, he ran to Rose pulling her around Hunter's waist as hard as catching a cat in the middle of a fight.

\- "LET ME GO! I'LL KILL THAT BASTARD! LET ME KILL THIS FUCKING BASTARD!"

________________________________________________________

Jason was in a more difficult fight with Baran, he was better than Baran and had more coordination, but Baran was stronger, no wonder his nickname was mammoth... He was just huge.

But he suddenly fell to the unlit floor, as if struck by something, and from behind Baran's huge figure, Raven was holding an iron bar in both hands. She had tears rolling down her cheeks, her hair was messy and she had a stain of almost dried blood coming out of her nose and her clothes were torn and open. The iron rod just slackened in her hands and fell to the floor, clattering down the entire hallway.

And then, Damian saw her eyes, the same eyes that always made him lose his breath, that had always intrigued him since his first day at that school, the same blue eyes like the stormy ocean... They were different.

Raven was broken, just the way Damian feared she was.

She put both hands on her face and cried her soul out. Rose suddenly stopped her urge to hit Hunter and almost immediately ran to Raven, wrapping her in a tight hug. Damian wanted to go to her, to say that it was all right, that she would be all right and that he wanted to hug her too and put her under his wings but he didn't know if a male person was right for that moment.

Dick took a deep breath and rubbed his cheek.

\- "Well, I work for the police... I can take care of these two... You need a doctor..." - He muttered - "I need you to file a complaint, Raven... I can't arrest them if you don't report it to the police"

\- "Dick will you come with paperwork now!?"

\- "It's the law, Jason..." - He took a deep breath - "And these two are underage, we'll have to talk to their parents..."

\- "Fuck the law, Grayson..." - Damian grumbled getting to his feet with difficulty - "If you don't put these two away from Raven I'll kill them both... I'm not fucking for this fucking law... They are two rapist pigs... They would have raped her if we hadn't arrived...

\- "Damian, calm down..."

\- "Fuck the calm down, Grayson..."

\- "Damian..."

\- "Don't touch me if you're going to come up with a speech about a law-following speech... I don't want to hear that... You don't need a fucking testimonial when you have her extremely traumatized over there..." - Dick took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair.

\- "Dick, does she need to do this now?" - Jason grumbled as he walked to the other two brothers, not without giving Hunter a kick before - "The poor thing is broken... Making her relive everything now is too sick..."

\- "Poor thing was enjoying it while I sucked her boobs..." - Hunter grunted with a laugh. Dick and Jason had to hold Damian and if Raven wasn't so clinging to Rose's body, they'd have to hold her too.

\- "Shut up, Hunter... You're in no position to say anything here..." - Dick muttered - "She can do it in 24 hours... She needs to pass exams, file a complaint for sexual harassment, physical assault and psychological and attempted rape... So, we can send these two to a reformatory and ask for protective action for her..."

\- "Death is the only protective measure these two deserve..." - Damian muttered.

\- "Damian... Death threat is also a crime..."

\- "Fuck it..." - Dick took a deep breath just decided to ignore what Damian was saying. He knew his brother was too angry to say anything without the violence involved, and he knew Hunter was taking advantage of it to annoy Damian... He knew that if Damian hurt him more, Dick would have filed a complaint against Damian for assault.

Damian and Rose had to get out of there and Raven had no psychological condition to be around her abuser... It was too much torture for her to stay there...

Dick pulled the phone out of his pocket and walked back a little, talking on the phone to someone, and then back to Jason, Damian, Rose and Raven.

\- "Rose, Raven and Damian... You go to the ward... Bruce is already aware of what happened and will take you to the hospital..."

\- "Why do you always have to go to father, Grayson? My katana is in the parking lot, I solve it in a heartbeat without involving father in it!"

\- "Damian... I won't say it again..."

\- "Raven is going to file the complaint," - Rose muttered, her hand resting on Raven's hair. - "But not now, Dick... We just have to get out of here... If I stay another 5 minutes near this son of a bitch, I'll kill him and I don't fucking care if you are a cop..."

\- "Okay... Go to the infirmary, isn't far from here... And Jason, you help me take these two idiots to the car that is in the parking lot... Barry, Kory and Roy are already getting the boys, so Tim can go meet them at the ward..."

\- "Great. I'll punch this asshole until he learns that you don't force a woman into anything she doesn't want."

\- "Jason..."

\- "I want to do something, Grayson..."

\- "You're all fucked up, Damian... You're not going to do anything in this state... Your broken arm needs attention..."

\- "I'm fucking fine... I said..."

\- "Damian..." - Raven's voice sounded faint and almost a murmur on Rose's shoulder and Damian almost felt moved to walk towards her.... The damn giant magnet causing him to be attracted to her voice regardless of place or place or situation - "You will do a lot for me... if you let your brother take care of it... I just want to get out of here... _Please_..."

Something about her _"please"_ made Damian hear something break inside him... It hurt like hell to hear that.

\- "Take her to the ward... It's the best way for you to help now... And then, when you're calmer, we talk..." - Damian took a deep breath, huffing angrily, but just nodded and started to walk away from that corridor, motioning for Rose to follow with Raven.

\- "Come on piece of shit, let's get going..." - Jason grunted, kicking Hunter once more. Dick took a deep breath watching Damian, Raven and Rose walk away silently as Jason left Hunter to stand just to punch him in the mouth again.

\- "You know nothing will happen to me... I'm rich and the son of a Greek princess... Who's gonna believe the word of a gothic slut when I say she lied?" - Dick stared at Hunter for a few long seconds in silence before grabbing Hunter by the collar and pushing against the wall.

\- "It may be that nothing judicially happens to you... But touch her or any other girl again without consent and I'll make sure to go after you..."

\- "Touch Raven again, and you'll meet my two daughters, Piper 38 and Sweet silent...." - Jason smiled - "That, not to mention Damian, which in case you don't know, is the son of a murderer... Has been trained for her all his life... Touch his girl again and it will be the last thing you touch in life..."

\- "That's a warning coming from the whole family now... Raven is under _**our**_ protection... If you look at her, you will lose your eye... If you touch her, you will lose your hands, if you CONSIDER harass her again, don't want to know what you'll lose..."

\- "A family of dogs that bark and don't bite..."

\- "Doubt? Try it then, asshole..."

\- "Come on, Jason ... I've heard enough of shit..." - Dick grunted pulling Baran unconscious over his shoulder, leaving Jason to take Hunter.

Damian, Rose, and Raven remained silent the entire time they walked to the now-empty ward. The blood was starting to cool so Damian was beginning to feel the pains hit his body. His broken arm throbbed, his ribs ached, and his nose was swollen, probably broken once more, but Damian looked good compared to Hunter. Rose Wilson had knocked her shit out on Hunter, Damian now saw a bloodstained Brass knuckles between her fingers that she didn't bother to keep as she hugged Raven.

Damian sat in one of the chairs not far from where they were, but let Raven have her own space. He really didn't feel it was the best time to be around her, though he wanted to be with her, it just hurt in a way he wasn't used to... He didn't like feeling that way...

He felt weak for feeling this way...

Damian sat there, watching Raven slowly stop crying, watching her breath become a sequence of sighs as her knuckles turned white holding tightly to the hem of her coat while Rose just slid her finger into her hair and pulled it out her face.

She seemed calmer... But of course nothing would make her calmer now... Damian still heard that voice in his mind ordering him to kill Hunter...

\- "Raven!" - A female voice pulled Damian from the bottom of his bubble of hate and murderous desires. A brown-haired woman tied in a high ponytail and much like Raven came running up to her and Rose, pulling the girl to her chest in a motherly way that Damian could never feel.

Was that the way mothers took care of their children?

\- "A-aunt ?!" - She blinked a few times, looking too stunned to understand what was going on.

Damian knew that victims of major trauma tended to close in on their own, to avoid further suffering.

\- "Yeah my love, it's me..." - the woman grunted, running both hands over Raven's face. - "Oh my god, oh my god... How did this horrible thing happen to you...? How could I let this happen to you? First your mother, now you..."

\- "How did you know?" - Rose grunted crossing her arms - "And it wasn't your fault, it's nobody's fault but the bastard who tried to hurt her..."

\- "Mr. Wayne came to us... He said we needed to meet you in the emergency... That he would explain on the way... Oh my baby girl, I'm sorry they did this to you..."

\- "Damian..." - Bruce's voice reverberated throughout the ward walls and Damian found himself breathing bored, looking at his father coming to him, already preparing for the scolding he would receive.

\- "What, father?"

\- "Are you alright? Dick told me they took the boys to a police station not far from here..."

\- "I am fine..."

\- "You almost killed these boys..."

\- "I should have killed... That's how rapists are treated where I came from... They die..."

\- "You're not with your mother anymore..."

\- "So what did you expect me to do?"

\- "Not trying to kill someone is one of the options..."

\- "If you're going to tell me that I should have called the police and tried my best while she was about to be raped, and that that because beating two rapists to defend a girl you will send me to some damn college in Switzerland, just do it now... I don't regret hitting that trash..."

\- "We'll talk about this later..." - Bruce grunted, shoving his hands in his pants pocket - "Now you need a doctor... Raven needs some medical exams, you need to check these injuries."

\- "I'm fucking fine..." - Damian just grunted, walking away from his father, toward the door. "You don't have to fake a worry you don't have ..."

\- "Damian..."

\- "Let's just go to this damn hospital... Raven needs a doctor..." - Bruce took a deep breath and just held the bridge of his nose. He knew Damian was right to rebel, he just didn't know how to deal with teenagers.

The billionaire just shook his head as his son left the room and walked irritably to the car.

\- "Mrs. Roth?" - He grunted turning to Raven, Rose and Alice - "The car to take you and your niece to the hospital is already waiting for you..."

\- "Thank you Mr. Wayne... I don't even know how to pay for such kindness..."

\- "Don't worry about it..." - The man grunted, looking at the extremely fragile girl hiding like a scared little girl in her aunt and friend's arms. It broke his heart...

Bruce couldn't help wondering if it was Cassandra or Stephanie... Would he have held back or lost control like Damian?

\- "Mr. Wayne?" - The girl's voice, hoarse, weak and almost a whisper sounded pulling him from his own fads

\- "Yes?"

\- "Don't be so hard on Damian... If it wasn't for him and Rose and his brothers... I... I... I..." - Her voice trailed off as tears rolled down her cheeks again.

\- "Shiiiii darling... No need to remember that... No... Forget it okay?" - the girl's aunt pulled her into a hug, sliding her hands on her back - "Let's go to the doctor and then this will all end..."

_________________________________________________________________

\- "Damian, you need to clean these bruises..." - Tim's voice made Damian jump in the uncomfortable hospital chair. He had gone straight there after the fair apparently ended with two students leaving in a police car.

News from the paper tomorrow would be hot...

Tim held a coffee cup and still had scribbles on his face, probably Mari'i's abstract art.

\- "I'm fine..."- Damian muttered, crossing his arms over his chest and grunting, he eventually forgot that his rib hurt... 

_Great, one more broken bone._

\- "No, you're not... You need a doctor to look at this nose, apparently you have a broken rib too and you need to see your arm..."

\- "I'm not leaving... Not until I know if Raven is well and safe from that troglodyte..."

\- "Ah..." - Tim nodded slowly and sat next to Damian - "Is that her?"

\- "Mmmm?"

\- "The girl you said that day, that you don't like her... Is that Raven?"

\- "Drake, I'm not in my best moment for stupid big brother teasing..."

\- "And I'm not doing any teasing ... It's just that I've never seen you so worried about someone like that..."

\- "She's a classmate, Drake..." - Damian took a deep breath with a little difficulty - "We were working together at the fair and it happened because I let her go to fetch things at the fair alone... I should have gone, she should have stayed with the kids in the room... That was my fault... I just want to make sure nothing else happens and she gets well as far as possible..."

\- "So you went into despair, took a beating, broke a nose and a rib, paid the hospital AND a psychologist, offered the best lawyer in town and now is sleeping all bloody and broken in an uncomfortable chair of an expensive hospital because from a 'classmate'?" - Tim arched his eyebrow - "And hey, take it easy... It wasn't your fault... You didn't try to abuse her and there was no way you knew that idiot would be at the fair..." - Damian took a deep breath looking at a point fixed.

\- "It was... It was horrible to see her in that situation... To hear what he said about her... I don't want to hear the scream she gave never again in my life... Nothing disturbed me more than when she screamed because he was rubbing himself in her, touching her..." - He clenched his hands into fists - "I wanted to kill him... _**I want to kill him**_... I would have killed if my arm wasn't broken... Stupid fucking plaster..."

\- "I heard that Rose did a big damage to his face..." - Tim chuckled

\- "Wilson is a good friend of hers..."

\- "You may not think so, you may think you don't like her... But you're also a good friend of hers, Damian ... There are guys who don't do a third of what you did..."

\- "They are stupid..."

\- "Yeah, they are..." - Tim gave his brother a smile. "I know you're worried about her, but she's fine... Bruce took care of her safety and she's being examined by the best doctors thanks to you... If she is well enough to receive you later when she is rested, they will not let you in soiled with blood..."

\- "I don't think she'll want to see anybody male anytime soon, Drake..."

\- "Yeah... That's a possibility... But you won't help if you're all ground here... Go talk to a doctor, clean these bruises and rest at home... When she's okay, I'll call you..."

\- "I'm not going away..."

\- "And what help can you give here like this?"

\- "I don't know! But I can't leave here... I... I don't want to leave here... I don't want... Leave her alone... Not again..."

Tim stared at Damian for a few seconds, his face ineligible and yet millions of questions at once.

\- "So, let's do this way... You'll see a doctor and take care of these injuries and I ask Alfred to bring you some clothes... I'm serious, I don't even know how they're letting you get all bloody here..."

\- "I got worse than this..."

\- "Whatever..." - Tim rolled his eyes. "I bet she or her aunt will come to thank you sometime... You need to be presentable, not looking like you've been hit by a bus and now you're an undead."

\- "I have a choice?"

\- "Oh..." - Tim arched an eyebrow - "Aren't you going to fight me?" 

\- "..."

\- "Will you ask me politely? Okay, this is new..."

\- "I'm tired"

\- "Anyway, no... You have no choice..."

\- "TT..."

\- "I'll call someone to look at these broken bones..." - Tim gave an angelic smile, turned the coffee cup in his mouth and got up to the reception.

With the name Wayne being said, it wasn't long before two nurses and a doctor came to Damian with a wheelchair to take him to the checkup... And of course Damian decided to walk instead of sitting in the goddamn chair and being pushed around.

As expected, Damian had broken a rib, his nose, a finger, and his arm would have to be plastered for another two weeks, (and he would probably have to do physiotherapy with his hand later), and with a cold thermal bag in the black eye that was now starting to flush. But overall, he was fine, by some kind of miracle, Damian hadn't punctured any organs with excess movement after the break, but would have to be on observation for 48 hours in the hospital, and the entire recovery period at home.

The thought of lying all day doing nothing almost terrified Damian.

He hated school, but the idea of going to Gotham and lying all day staring at the ceiling wasn't what he wanted to do for the next few weeks... _He didn't want to be that far away from her_. He didn't want to be useless while everything around the world happened

He got a new cast on his arm, the old one was damaged and bloodstained, a huge bandage on his nose and bandages on his eye and shortly after he was helped by Tim to take a shower in the hospital room, Alfred arrived with new and clean pajamas for Damian and the same worry face as ever.

Alfred was a better grandfather than Ra's Al Ghul and Damian respected him with all his being... God bless Alfred Pennyworth.

He also had flowers, a cookie jam, and a box of chocolates in his hands... And they weren't for Damian.

He got a new cast on his arm, the old one was damaged and bloodstained, a huge bandage on his nose and bandages on his eye and shortly after he was helped by Tim to take a shower in the hospital room, Alfred arrived with new and clean pajamas and the same worry as ever. Damian took a pain medication, dressed in his clean new gray sweatshirt, and Tim helped him lie down on the bed (with lots of protests from Damian)

Alfred was a better grandfather than Ra's Al Ghul and Damian respected him with all his being... 

_ God bless Alfred Pennyworth._

He also had flowers, a cookie jam, and a box of chocolates in his hands... And they weren't for Damian.

-;"Master Drake... Perhaps you could help me find the room of the young woman who suffered this terrible misfortune? I want to pay my feelings to her and bring some love to her heart..."

\- "Of course Alfred..." - Tim grinned a huge smile - "But I don't know if she's getting visitors... She had to go through a battery of medical exams, those legal bureaucracies to complain about the assault... And she was really bad when it arrived... I ... I don't know if she will want to receive visitors..."

\- "Oh, I imagined... I hope justice plays its part and keeps these two criminals away from her and any other girl... I was so horrified when Master Bruce called saying he was in the hospital and explained the girl's situation...." - He took a deep breath - "But I think chocolates and cookies can bring some peace to this troubled soul and broken heart..."

\- "Of course Alfred, come with me... I need some coffee too..."

\- "I can go too..." - Damian muttered

\- "No way, Master Damian... You have a broken rib and need absolute rest for it to recover..."

\- "We won't be long, gremlin... Besides, I don't want to get scolded by Bruce for irresponsibility if you have a lung punctured by unnecessary effort on the broken rib..."

\- "You can't make me lie here and useless... You are not my parents!"

\- "And for that, Master Damian, be grateful..."

\- "Hey.... If you... If you see her... Don't say I'm the one who paid the hospital... If someone ask who to thank or whatever... Say it was my father..."

\- "But why, Damian?"

\- "She should have known you helped her... Hospital bills are especially expensive and you decided to pay it out of your pocket... I mean, from the money fund you have..."

\- "Hmmm is not a money fund, Drake... This money is my inheritance as Al Ghul... I don't just have money from the Wayne..." - Damian rolled his eyes. "But that's not the case..." 

\- "Shouldn't she thank you and not your father for your kindness, Master Damian?"

\- "I... I know Raven... Better than I wanted to know... She's too proud to accept anything from me, but she won't question if it's a good deed from the great Bruce Wayne... She's too shy to question my father... And she hates me... " - Damian looked at his hands - "She must hate me more and more now... I was the direct cause that happened to her..." 

\- "Damian, it wasn't your fault..." 

\- "It was my fault, Drake... I let her go alone... I didn't stop the stupid rumors that she had something with me... She was only attacked by that son of a bitch because he thought she had some kind of sex contract with me... She must hate hearing my name..."

Alfred stared at Damian for a few long seconds and then nodded slowly.

\- "I don't believe Miss Roth hates you or blames you for the unfortunate condition that has happened to her, Master Damian... These criminals have probably used a household name to terrify you and her... But if it is your wish that your help be anonymous, so will be" - He gave a friendly smile - "Now rest your body and mind, Master Damian... You will find it helpful to sleep a little now" - And then, before Tim or Damian protested, left the room turning off the light and closing the door.

Damian was alone again with his pains, his demons, and that damn memory of her eyes nailed to his mind.

Damian stared at the ceiling for a long time, feeling his muscles relax from the soft mattress on his back, the silence, the painkiller acting and the comfort of the bed reminding him of how tired he was and how urgently his eyes wanted to be close.

Maybe he could get some sleep, maybe sleep for a little while would help that crap rib, if he healed he mightn't need to be rendered useless in a bed for an entire month... Thinking about it made Damian wish he could sleep for those 30 days so he wouldn't see the time ticking by.

Damian took a deep breath with a little difficulty and closed his eyes and was quickly swallowed into the darkness of sleep. Sleeping now seemed like an excellent idea, he could worry about his life when he woke up... Maybe, that deep sleep would make that scream of dread from Raven shut in his mind and the voice he was trying so hard to silence was gone.

_"Kill him"_


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Tell me things you never said out loud  
Just try and go there if you can  
Show me the parts of you you're not that proud of  
I wanna know I'm just a man  
How have you know that I have good and bad days  
Come on, now, love, don't be naive  
Lay out our cards and you'll see all my mistakes  
Well, I don't mind while you're with me"

Everything in her hurt...

Raven had no broken bones, no serious fractures, just a bruise on her face that would probably turn purple in the next few days on her cheek, a cut in her mouth and those marks on her body, nothing as bad as a broken rib Damian had.

But still, she felt as if everything inside her was ground to dust, every cell, every inch of skin, every part of her body and especially her heart ached like hell now... It was hard to breathe, it was hard to look for her own body, it was hard to do anything... She just wanted it to be a fucking nightmare and for her to wake up whole and well in her bed...

But no matter how hard she pressed her eyes and asked to wake up in her room, she always opened her eyes in that hospital room, with those bluish walls, that beeping and a dripping sound.

This wasn't a nightmare.  
It had happened to her  
And if it wasn't for Damian and Rose, it had been so much worse.

Raven took a deep breath wiping a lone tear that ran back out of the corner of her eye and straightened up in bed... She didn't know how her aunt had coped with a hospital room and doctors and tests and medicines... It all seemed too expensive even for them, who lived well, but weren't millionaires like most families in high school.

Rose had gone home to take a shower and Raven's aunt was outside the room probably grabbing a coffee and trying to get a babysitter for the kids and Raven was alone in that room with her head full of bad memories and a body that hurt like hell.

Raven was too intent on the quilt bar around her waist that she almost jumped out of bed when she heard the door open and someone, an old man with a smile on his face, gave three light pats.

\- "Miss Roth, will you allow me in?"

\- "Hey, Raven..." - Tim Drake, the blue-eyed pool boy, Damian's brother whom Raven met at the party, put his head in a corner, struggling to wave at her - "We came to visit..."

\- "Ahnnn..." - She nodded slowly and instinctively pressed the quilt against her body - "S-Sure..." - The gentleman, who was holding a bunch of things in his hands and wearing a tuxedo and bow tie, came into the room and stood in front of Raven's bed, leaving a Tim Drake almost falling to the floor in the doorway.

Raven could almost hear Damian say "he's an idiot" in his head.

The thought of Damian hurt, and she didn't know if it was because of what she had heard or if it was because he had been hurt badly because of her ... It made her wonder if what Hunter had said about him was true, he wouldn't be hurt for her. if he just wanted to make her one more, right?

Her head hurt from the thought of that name, God she felt a bad shiver go up the back of her neck when she thought of that damn name.

\- "Are you ok, Raven?" - Tim mumbled with those doggy eyes, Raven thought it was cute... It was funny to see the different nuances between Damian's brothers ...

At other times she would even laugh at the situation

\- "We can go back another time, Miss..." - He arched an eyebrow. How to say it was okay when everything was falling apart?

\- "Alfred wanted to bring you these flowers... He is from the family and learned of... what happened..."

\- "A terrible misfortune, if you may say so, Miss ..."

\- "..." 

\- "How unkind of me..." - The man bowed, handing all the contents of his hands to Raven. There were biscuits, a box of expensive chocolates, and a small bouquet of yellow, white, and dark red field flowers, the kind not to be. it grew anywhere in California. The flowers were in a vase of water, carefully wrapped with a thin cloth and a baby pink ribbon bow.

\- "T-thanks..." - Raven tried to smile gratefully, but feared her smile wasn't clear enough.

\- "Alfred Pennyworth, Wayne's butler at your service, Miss Roth."

\- "Alfred is more of the family than a mere butler, Raven..." - Tim grumbled shaking at his feet - "He's like a super cool grandpa..."

\- "Your kindness, Master Drake..." - Alfred said with a warm smile. "I just like doing my job and taking care of the whole family like the children I didn't have..." 

\- "He who grew those flowers in the greenhouse he has in the mansion..." - Tim put a hand to his face, whispering to Raven. She knew he was trying to make her smile, but she just couldn't.

Everything was still really fresh in her, she still had that pain in her wrists and if she lifted her hospital gown she could see all the tooth marks on her.

\- "This... This is amazing, Alfred... Thank you..." - Raven grumbled putting everything on the table that was leaning against the bed for meals - "And you can call me Raven... No need to worry about labels and titles..." - She took a deep breath

\- "How are you feeling?" - Tim asked, some uncertainty in his voice - "It's ridiculous to ask if you're alright when you're not, but... Are you calmer?"

\- "Hmmm... Physically? I'm perfectly fine," - Raven grumbled, looking at her own hands - "The doctor said I'm fine, with no fractures or anything worse... And that the exams are satisfactory and the girl, police coroner, managed to collect everything, I have... marks and... body fluids all over my body that... that can help in a process... And there were witnesses, so..." - Raven took a deep breath feeling everything hurt in her again - "Psychologically? I feel like a piece of shit... Every fucking thing in me hurts... I still feel him pinching me, licking me... I'm still disgusted to feel it... I'd rather have died... If I died it just stopped to hurt..."

\- "Oh Raven..."

\- "And this... This can come to nothing in the end... He is rich and powerful and I am what?"

\- "You're a strong girl..."

\- "Strong girls don't get sex abuse cases just for being strong, Tim..."

\- "You are under our protection, Raven... We will all stand by you for whatever is necessary... Even Bruce is willing to help with whatever you needs, and he knows... The idiot's parents." He will take all possible measures ...

\- "And I'm grateful for that... But I can't allow anyone else to get hurt because of me..." - She snorted, her eyes burning again - "How is Damian?"

\- "Master Damian is fine, resting in his room... He wanted to come visit you but, he needs to rest..."

\- "Is he badly hurt?"

\- "Nothing Damian isn't used to..."

\- "I... I'm so sorry... I didn't want him to get hurt because of me... I never wanted anyone to get hurt because of me..."

\- "Raven... Look, you don't have to blame yourself for this... It wasn't anyone's fault but that two troglodytes..." - Tim grumbled, taking the courage to hold her hands - "Damian can be a tough head and a little rude... Unlike everyone thinks, he had a childhood... Complicated... But he would never let anyone hurt you, nor any other girl... And he cares about you..."

\- "If you will allow me, Miss Roth, I dare say I have never seen Master Damian worry about anyone as he cared for you. He would have come here if he hadn't been forbidden by medical orders to keep at rest."

\- "And he just did everything he could to search for you ... We were looking into the possibilities of what might have happened and he was already going after you... He may be a little insensitive, Raven... But he worries about you and he don't regret helping to save you… I bet all my chips that he would do it over and over again if he needed to…" - Raven bit the inside of her cheek, tugging Tim's hands again instinctively. She wasn't ready for someone holding her hand like that yet - "Sorry..."

\- "No... Alright..." - She took a deep breath - "Everything is still just too early..."

\- "Oh, darling! I didn't know you had visitors..." - Alice mumbled opening the door with a jar of jelly and a cup of coffee in her hands

\- "These are... Relative... Of Mr. Wayne..."

\- "Ah..." - She hurried to put the coffee cup and jelly in one hand and shake hands with Tim and Alfred with the other - "I didn't know you were from the Wayne family and you were friends with my niece, my unkindness, I'm sorry..."

\- "Raven studies with my younger brother... He always talks about her and we met in a social that I did in my apartment... She became a very dear person..."

"It's all right, Mrs. Roth... We just came to wish Miss Raven better... But we should have expected you to be here..."

\- "Anyway, we're going, aren't we, Alfred?" - Tim glanced quickly at Raven and then at Alfred - "We just came to see how she was doing and Alfred wanted to deliver some things he brought to Raven..."

\- "Ah ... - Alice nodded slowly - "It's very kind of you... All of you, actually..." - She smiled at the two men - "It's a pity we met in this situation..."

\- "Aunt... They are already going..."

\- "I know, honey..."

\- "Ah... Before I forget..." - Tim turned on his heel and turned to Raven - "Ahnn when you feel a little better and get out of medical observation... There is a therapeutic psychologist at your disposal..."

\- "Oh..." - She took a deep breath and nodded slowly - "I don't know what to say... Really... I can't accept..."

\- "Raven... You not only can but should..."

\- "I don't even know who's paying it all... I don't want someone spending money on me... This... It's too weird..." She scowled.

Alfred and Tim looked at each other quickly.

\- "Your benefactor requested anonymity, Miss Raven..." - Tim opened his mouth to say something to Alfred, but simply closed it again and looked at Raven.

\- "Uhnnn... Yes... Yeah... He asked for anonymity... He... Asked to... Be like this because I knew you were going to say you didn't have to..." - He rolled his eyes 

\- "It's Damian..." - Raven grunted, eyes locked on Tim Drake - "It's him who paid all this and he's the one who told you not to tell me..."

\- "What? No... Of course not..." - Tim laughed nervously - "Damian? Please... No, of course it's not him... It's anyone in our family but Damian..."

\- "So are you telling me that he would be selfish enough to be any Wayne but him?"

\- "Raven!"

\- "WHAT? No... I don't... I didn't say this... For God's sake, Raven doesn't tell him that I said this"

\- "Raven, my sweet... That's not the way to say it!"

\- "Aunt, I know Damian... And yes, he's selfish, petty, spoiled when he wants... With all due respect, Alfred and Tim"

\- "If you allow me, Miss Raven..."

\- "Just Raven..."

\- "As you wish," - Alfred said quietly - "If you'll allow me, Raven... Yes, Master Damian is a very selfish and stingy teenager when he wants to be, but that's not the case... He has visibly a great affection for you..."

\- "Alfred... He will kill both of us if he knows about this..."

\- "Nonsense, Master Drake..." - Alfred shook his head - "Master Damian will not know, right, Raven?" - he grinned at Raven, winking an eye.

\- "My mouth is a grave" - Raven grunted making a lock with her fingers in her mouth.

\- "Anyway, you need to rest and we have to keep an eye on Damian to keep him from jumping over the hospital windows and running home… But…" - He fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a black Onix card with a luxurious script and the Wayne corporate symbol behind and handed it to Alice - "I'll leave my number with you... As I study here, Damian is always with me when he's not at school... So anything you need, call me... Regardless of time, if you need to call me... Even if you just need to talk to Damian..." - Tim grunted

\- "Oh... Okay..". - Aunt Alice nodded slowly and ran to put the card in the purse that was in the armchair in the corner of the room.

\- "Anyway, we need to go... Nice rest, Raven... Come on Alfred..."

\- "Of course, Master Drake..." - Alfred smiled, he walked over to Raven and reached for her. Raven looked at Alfred's hand for a few seconds and then held on - "I hope to see you soon, in another situation. Maybe you can go have a cup of tea with me and Master Damian at the mansion... It would be a great pleasure to have you in Gotham for the holidays..."

\- "Alfred....? Come on...." - Tim grunted between his teeth.

\- "Hmmmm... Sure... When... When I go to Gotham I'll... Visit you... Sure..." - Raven grunted, nodding, not understanding what was going on between the old man and the pool eyes boy

\- "Great!" - Alfred smiled - "I look forward to your visit ... Surely you will love the mansion..."

\- "Alfred.... The Gremlin..."

\- "Master Drake, it's not polite to call your brother those nicknames in front of other people..." - Alfred grumbled, walking toward Tim - "What can they think? That we are a crazy family?"

\- "That's exactly what this family is..." - Tim rolled his eyes - "Anyway... Bye Raven... Then we'll talk more..." He waved a hand at her, smiling as he pulled Alfred out.

Raven and Alice watched the two men go out arguing quietly about _"talking too much"_, Raven almost laughed, this family really was completely crazy and different... But she liked the little she had seen...

Even Damian Wayne's not-so-unbearable-bad-boy playing with children...

When Rose arrived, Aunt Alice decided to go take a shower at home and get some rest, Rose would stay in the hospital with Raven and insisted that Raven's aunt go to get some sleep.

Rose was lying in bed with Raven, she was small for two people, but Rose decided she wouldn't leave her side and Raven was grateful for that ... She felt safe with Rose by her side and she could even feel sleep coming.

They were watching Gossip Girs on their bedroom TV, eating the cookies Alfred had taken in complete silence for over 3 episodes when Rose decided to break the silence...

The advantages of being in a hospital room as expensive as a hotel room.

\- "Damian's whole family was there at the concierge when I arrived..."

\- "Hmmm..." - Raven took a deep breath - "Some of them are paying this damn hospital..."

\- "You don't know who?"

\- "I think it's Damian..." - Raven grumbled.

\- "And why wouldn't he tell you?"

\- "Because he knows I wouldn't accept..." - Rose scowled

\- "Okay, they should get a huge allowance... But enough to pay a hospital room of this level, doctors and nurses and whatever you need?"

\- "Do you think it was his father?"

\- "That's a fact... His son was involved in the whole fight..."

\- "His son helped me, Rose..." - Raven rolled her eyes - "And his son is hurt too... It's understandable that all the rich and trendy Wayne family will be at the concierge... Don't doubt there's the fanclube tomorrow...."

\- "That's true..." - Rose laughed - "You know, I think he really likes you... I never saw him so crazy to find someone... And he didn't leave the concierge until he was sure you were okay"

\- "Oh no, Rose..." - Raven took a deep breath - "I don't want to have this conversation and I don't want to talk about boys... Not today... Not after... After that..."

\- "Hey... It's okay, fine... If you don't wanna talk about it, we won't talk..." - Rose slipped her fingertips into Raven's hair

\- "You look like an MMA fighter with those bands in your hand..." - Raven grunted holding Rose's hand. "Did you get hurt?"

\- "No... Just because of the brass knuckles, no big deal..." - Rose grunted - "And not even start to worry here... You are my younger fake sister... It's my duty to protect you from bullies and suckers and those who dare touch you..."

\- "Your duty?"

\- "Yeah... And scold you to be quiet too because you're under medical observation... It's almost 1 am, you should be sleeping and not watching Gossip Girls.."

\- "That's true..." - Raven yawned blinking once or twice - "I think I want to sleep... Just sleep and forget that day..."

\- "I also think you have to get some sleep... You will feel much better when you wake up in a new day, a new beginning..."

\- "I don't know if I can sleep... Every time I close my eyes I-"

\- "Shiiiiii, let's not remember that..." - Rose muttered - "Remember people who likes you... How you are surrounded by love... Garfield and Tara will come see you tomorrow, the Wayne family butler brought you these delicious cookies and flowers that he himself grew without even knowing you well, Damian didn't leave the reception until he was sure you were fine, I won't leave your side until you are 100% fine... Seriously, you're surrounded by people who love you, who care about you… Think of nothing but that..." - Raven took a deep breath and nodded. - "Anyway, I'm going to the armchair... I brought enough warm blanket to sleep on the north pole..."

\- "You can lie here..."

\- "No, you need space and you need to be comfortable for a good night's sleep... Anything, I'm in the armchair and you just need to call me..."

\- "Rose..."

\- "No, Raven... Bedtime...!" - Rose grunted arranging the blanket around Raven and giving a light kiss on her forehead - "Sleep well, bird girl..."

\- "Sleep well, flower girl..." - Raven grunted with a faint smile on her lips. Rose rolled her eyes and walked to the recliner, curling up in a pile of blankets.

Raven found herself extremely tired, maybe it was because of the mental effort not to remember, maybe she was physically exhausted or maybe it was the pain pills and the constant beep ringing in a nearby room, marking someone's heartbeat and the constant noise of serum drop attached to Raven's arm.

Or maybe it was all together and Raven found letting herself be hugged by the arms of sleep, leading her into dreamland, but leaving her alone in the midst of nightmarish monsters.

It wasn't Raven's first nightmare, it wasn't the first night she woke up with her own screams and a cry as she fled her own monsters and demons in the nightmare, with Rose or Alice or her cousins shaking her and saying she was fine, safe, and everything was just a nightmare.

Raven left the hospital the next day and was tempted to go see if Damian was all right, but she was so exhausted from that blue room and that beep she just swallowed that thought as she got into the cab with Alice, Rose and a well-dressed lawyer that wanted to talk to Alice about court things in a setting other than hospital reception.

Raven won a two-week layoff (despite protests) from the school, somehow Bruce Wayne convinced the dean that Raven was psychologically unable to face the campus where she suffered such a trauma, so Raven felt bored almost all day long...

Empty head was the devil's workshop, and Raven's head was a big devil's workshop...

Four days at home staring at the ceiling of her room, bored and unwilling to do anything at all, Raven began to sink into a black hole that she didn't even find herself sinking. She slept all day, ate almost nothing, barely left the place to take a shower and go to the bathroom...

Her room had become her safe fortress, she didn't have to leave... She didn't want to leave... But she was forced to leave

Aunt Alice thought it was time for Raven to have consultations with the therapeutic psychologist the Wayne had made available to her, she had seen the same behavior happen to Raven's mother and knew that along with that behavior came other destructive behaviors...

Angela was never the same after that day she arrived at Alice's house, torn, bruised, and very underweight she should have… Alice remembered perfectly seeing Angela's sprung bones for days or maybe months. without eating a meal...

And Alice remembered very well what happened weeks later...

Angela closed herself to the world and Alice found herself clasping her hands watching Angela sink, Raven's mother started to go out at night and only come back completely drugged and drunk two days later, started acting like the wayward teenager she was and for more. It broke Alice's heart to see her sister deteriorating because of a consummate rape that Angela suffered for days, she couldn't do anything to change... She was young, had just married, and was thinking of starting a family, Angela was an adult woman and had to be responsible for her actions...

A month or two later, Angela came crying again, but this time saying she was pregnant... The rape had spawned a baby and she cried copiously saying that she couldn't look with love at this child...

And Alice, as much as she couldn't support the idea of an abortion, couldn't imagine loving a child from the most horrific moment of a woman's life... A child from rape.

Angela considered aborting, but for some reason the black-haired woman, so psychologically broken, decided she would have the baby.

Two months later, Angela discovered that the baby would be a girl and then decided she would leave. She said she wanted to start over, become a good mother to the little girl and give all the love in the world to her.

Alice tried to persuade her to stay, said she would help her raise the girl, that she could stay with her while Angela worked, but nothing made the woman stay.

Angela disappeared for long 8 years and then came back holding the girl's hand. She looked fine, but said she couldn't take care of a child and that she needed to leave Raven with her, that she would go away and try to improve her life, and that one day she would come back for her daughter.

Alice thought about protesting and not accepting, but seeing the girl and her big blue eyes like oceans, rosy cheeks and innocent smile, she remembered how Angela was in childhood and couldn't deny taking care of that girl as if she were her own daughter.

She didn't want the girl to lose that purity

Angela didn't tell Raven her origin or that she was the result of a rape, but let her know that her mother had a terrible adolescent phase and that she ended up being the result.

Raven believed it was a night of alcohol and drugs, not days of kidnapping and rape… Alice didn't want to put that weight on the girl's back. But when she heard that Raven had suffered almost the same thing as Angela, she felt her heart break in a million pieces.

She had promised she wouldn't let Raven be like Angela and so she insisted on taking Raven to someone who could talk to her properly and say she didn't need to close down. She definitely didn't want the same fate for her niece… It had been exactly a situation like the one that had driven Angela away, wouldn't it be a situation like this that would take Raven too…

And under protests and shouts like _"you're not my mother"_ and _"you can't make decisions for me"_ from a more aggressive Raven than she used to be, Raven started her walk to try not to be her mother...

When Alice finally opened to Raven after the thousandth discussion about going to the therapist, Raven locked herself in her room for a full day. Alice could hear the sighs of crying from within the room, but saw a slight advance when the girl left the room at the end of the day, asking if dinner was ready and apologizing for acting like a stupid teenager with her... Alice ran and pulled the girl into her arms, leaving her nestled in his chest as she said it was okay, that she would be with Raven when she needed... Then, Raven announced that she would try therapy to get better because she didn't want to be her mother.

She wouldn't be her mother...


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I could walk on water  
If i could tell you whats next  
Make you believe  
Make you forget

_ **2 weeks later** _

Damian snorted boredly as Tim opened the bedroom door with a flag in his hands and a stupid smile on his face. It had been two weeks since Damian had left the hospital and he was all right and could walk to the bathroom and take a shower on his own and do his own thing, but Tim insisted on acting as if Damian was in a terminal cancer phase when Alfred wasn't in the apartment.

\- "Drake I can eat other foods than Corn soup.... Or vegetable soup.... Or noodle soup... Or whatever the hell soup is..."

\- "You always complain about other things so, you will eat soup..."

\- "Gods, when I can get out of bed and go to my high school room I won't eat soup ever again in my life and it's entirely your fault..."

\- "Alfred went to the mansion for the next 2 days, so I'll be your nurse until Monday..."

\- "I prefer to die..."

\- "Oh come on... It can't be so bad..."

\- "Not so bad... It's worse... A nightmare, a real nightmare..."

\- "Don't be a spoiled boy..." - Tim grumbled placing the tray on Damian's lap - "I won't even be your nanny all day today... I need to go fix some college stuff in half an hour..."

\- "Well, that's good news..." - Damian muttered raising his eyebrows without paying attention to Tim standing in front of him. 

Damian could already imagine walking into the living room and watching some TV on the couch or having his own snack in the kitchen without Tim Drake saying he should be at rest.

Of course he celebrated too early

\- "Don't get excited..." - Tim crossed his arms with a smile on his face - "I will not leave you alone... There are stairs in this apartment and you have a rib recovering from being broken and a nose that is still swollen and ugly and bruised who still need care..."

\- "I can perfectly take care of my injuries... I'm not invalid... And these injuries do not even need bandage, they are practically already healed..."

\- "Doesn't matter... A girl is coming to be your nurse today, and she who offered to help, I just agreed..."

\- "Uncheck this with her... I don't need a babysitter..."

\- "It's not a babysitter, Damian..." - Tim laughed - "And I won't uncheck..."

\- "..." - Damian snorted, turning his attention to the soup - "And by the way, this soup is horrible... It seems that you cooked your own sock here..."

\- "Why do you have to be so grumpy? If at 17 you're such a grumpy old man, I don't wanna see when you're 60 or 70!"

\- "If all goes well you will not be..."

\- "Is this how you treat your brother who devotes his time and affection to taking care of you? Maybe you want me to call Jason... Or Cass... Maybe you prefer both taking care of you..."

\- "Or maybe I'd rather be alone..."

\- "No way..." - Tim grumbled taking the tray again when Damian set it aside - "Anyway... Your nurse must be coming... Can you please treat her well? And not be a grumpy old man? I'm going to leave soup ready in the oven because someone told me that her food is possibly worse than this soup..."

\- "I'd rather starve than eat one more spoon of this soup..."

\- "You're not going to starve... Besides, you have a phone... You can order food..." - Tim blinked an eye and the doorbell rang almost instantly - "Oops, it must be her, so it's a sign that I have to go because I'm late... I'll pass the instructions of the house and your medicines to her and you try to behave and be a good boy... And if you feel anything for a pretty girl dressed as a nurse and you decide to do something, watch out for the rib..."

\- "Timothy Drake, out of my room now!"

\- "Okay... I was just giving advice... And having fun with her cheeks turning pink... I don't think she's going to do this nor is she going to be like a sexy nurse... Relax..." - Tim grunted laughing - "Anyway... Behave, don't be a grumpy old man and be a good boy... Or else I'll talk to Alfred about his lack of manners with others..."

\- "Whatever..." - Damian muttered rolling his eyes and the doorbell rang again.

\- "Okay, I have to go open the door for the girl... Get some rest..."

\- "It's the only thing I've been doing besides eating and having to put up with your face..." - Tim chuckled and left closing the bedroom door, leaving Damian alone again.

Damian took a deep breath and stared at the wall in front of him, boredom taking over his being. He had already finished reading all the books of _A Song of Ice and Fire_, _Harry Potter_, some books of poetry that Alfred had taken from the mansion library and _Pride and Prejudice_, and had nothing left to distract himself in his long free time had.

He preferred not to get too many visitors in the apartment, he knew that this girl who was always chasing him in high school would practically set up a tent in his room and he was definitely tired of seeing her in every place he went, so he simply asked that said he was in Gotham.

No one would go to Gotham just to visit Bruce Wayne's son, classes were still going on.

But Damian allowed Rose Wilson to go there, she always brought non-soup food when she showed up and Damian always asked how Raven was doing to her...

He had the courage to kill a man, but when it was about Raven something happened and he couldn't call to hear from her. For some weird reason, Rose Wilson became a close friend of Damian after all these events... 

_Maybe because they both got injured protecting someone they liked... Wait, what?_

Rose had told her last visit that Raven was starting to attend therapy meetings and that they were doing her good, but she couldn't tell how much that trauma had hurt her.

According to Rose Wilson, Raven was more aggressive and more closed in her own world. In the first week after it had happened, she had locked herself in her room and hardly left for anything and wouldn't accept anyone's visits. According to Rose, Raven woke up crying and screaming every holy night and wasn't eating but that after the second meeting of therapy she was already a little better, still with traces of trauma, but walking to get better...

According to Rose Wilson, Raven was more aggressive and more closed in her own world. In the first week after it had happened, she had locked herself in her room and hardly left for anything and would not accept anyone's visits. According to Rose, Raven woke up crying and screaming every holy night and was not eating but that after the second meeting of therapy she was already a little better, still with traces of trauma, but walking to get better ...

But since then, Damian didn't know about Raven's condition anymore.

Rose spent the week at school, even though Damian hardly saw her in class... She would probably only see him at the weekend and he didn't have the nerve to call anyone for news of Raven ... He remembered perfectly from the stupid smile that rose on his face every time he asked about Raven.

Damian wanted to visit her, see for himself how she was and make her eat all those damn soups he had eaten because Alfred and Tim had made him eat all these days to get stronger even if he needed a probe for it, but for some reason other than a broken rib, he couldn't...

Perhaps because he knew how women felt about men after being abused, Damian felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end as he remembered Athanasia and what happened to her when a League soldier sexually abused her. Ra's Al Ghul's punishment of the soldier was not enough to stop Athanasia.

Or maybe because he was afraid of what she might think...

Or maybe he just was too cowardly to simply call to a girl...

Damian snorted, straightening up in bed to try to get some sleep even though he was sleepless, ignoring the stab he felt in the region where the broken rib was... He was already impatient with this treatment, there was still another 2 weeks of rest before he went to the doctor again to see if the rib was good and that meant another 2 weeks of dirty-tasting soup, Alfred Pennyworth and Tim Drake treating him like a fragile and broken baby, Jason popping up by surprise to pester him with jokes about him breaking himself all over because of a girl and Bruce showing up to drill him for being a complain... Not to mention Richard Grayson's calls every 1 hour asking if he was all right.

Damian could hardly believe he was missing the boring classes, the unbearable noise of hundreds of students, the stupid girls who insisted on saying good morning to him with that mellow voice and the judgmental glances Raven always gave him...

The last one were the one he missed the most.

Damian snorted for the thousandth time, he couldn't sleep... Not when the only thing he did was exactly lie down most of the day. He needed to exercise, was gaining weight with all this rest.

Damian stopped thinking too much and tried to hear some sound coming from the apartment or the voice of the nurse Tim had called, but it was silent as if Damian were alone, save for the very quiet noise of the TV and the clink of something clinking in china cups.

Damian rolled his eyes, Tim had hired some stupid girl to take care of him, she hadn't even bothered to go see if he needed anything... Maybe she would spend all day enjoying the apartment stuff and just not giving a damn to whatever Damian did...

That in the end wasn't bad at all... Damian smelled lemon and chamomile tea and toast invading his nose and found himself wondering who was the woman who liked lemon tea, chamomile and toast.

At least she had good taste for teas, very similar to his own taste.

He was sunk in the covers still deciding whether to walk into the living room and find out who the tea girl was or just ignore it for 10 full minutes when he heard the bedroom door open and reveal a girl with long black hair, blue eyes like a raging and at the same time, peaceful, ocean and that he was desperate to know how he was doing.

Great, she was seeing him looking like a rag, in pajamas, messy hair and like a dying man... It was really the way he wanted her to see him...

And that was a big lie.

\- "Hmm... hey..." - she mumbled, her tone almost inaudible as she tried to balance everything on a tray with one arm while holding the doorknob with the other, leaving the door as wide as she could leave.

_The trauma_

\- "R-Raven...?" - Damian managed to mumble after a long time focusing his eyes in disbelief that she was there, in the mess of his room, in his mess.

\- "Hey..."

\- "What are you doing here?" - Shit, he didn't want to sound that rude, but the surprise of seeing her there and the concern for her made him look like an idiot. It was all so confusing to his head that he didn't see the words coming out of his mouth.

Raven stopped for a few seconds and then chewed on her lower lip and Damian found himself watching her figure standing in front of him.

Raven was thinner than she really was, the blue dress she was wearing was wider than usual, and she had dark circles under her eyes that turned out to be too prominent from the porcelain skin she had.

And Raven kept a safe distance from him, almost near the door, ready to run if necessary.

She took a full minute to say something

\- "Thanking you..."

\- "Thanking me?"

\- "Yes..."

\- "Oh..." - Damian blinked a few times and then dropped his head to the side trying to understand - "And why...?"

\- "You know... You helped me... You saved me..." - Raven shrugged looking at another corner that wasn't for him - "All of you..."

\- "You don't have to..." - Damian grumbled, straightening on the bed. 

Okay why did he feel so restless?

\- "I made... I made tea..." - Raven walked over to him slowly, still not looking at him - "Tim said you ate almost nothing from the soup... So... I did the only thing I can do without setting the kitchen on fire..." - Raven grumbled shyly putting the tray on his lap quickly and getting back just over 5 steps away from him.

And there were two cups, a sugar bowl, toast and cream cheese.

Damian's stomach made an awkward noise… He hadn't eaten anything but Tim's dirty-tasting soup since Alfred's last meal brought to him last night.

\- "Raven... Wait, wait, wait... What are you doing here? How did you end up offering for it? How are you?"

\- "Hmmm... I said... I... I'm thanking... It's not because we don't get along in at school that means I'm rude and not being thankful and giving back favors..."

\- "You dont need..."

\- "I need..." - She grumbled almost bored - "After you pay all those doctors and that room and a fucking psychologist the least I can do is help take care of you..."

\- "Wait, how do you know?"

\- "Tim and Alfred aren't the best at keeping secrets, Damian..."

\- "I should have known" - Damian growled, rolling his eyes.

\- "So, since I can't go back in time and tell you to not pay and you probably wouldn't accept my aunt's money, so I decided to help Tim..."

\- "You're scared..." - Damian grumbled crossing his arms over his chest - "You shouldn't be forcing yourself to swallow your fear like this... You need to get over them, not throw them under the rug..."

\- "Why do you think I'm afraid? I'm not afraid!"

\- "Your body language..." - He grunted with an arched eyebrow - "You are keeping a safe distance, you probably calculated in your mind a good distance to escape if you need... You left the door open at its maximum, I found that you were going to drill a hole on the other side so it could open more and you can't even look at me..."

\- "What are you? Some kind of detective?"

\- "Observer is the best word..." - He grunted rolling his eyes - "And that's not the point... The point is that you're afraid and you shouldn't be forcing yourself like this, the mourning period after these events and the treatment period with a psychologist is extremely important... Not just throwing everything under the rug and pretending it's already better... By the way, how are you? Are you eating? Is sleeping? Raven, you shouldn't be here..."

\- "Hmm... Whatever..." - She grunted taking one of the cups, the chamomile, and placing it near the armchair - "Tim said you were picky with your tea... Lemon, china cup and brown sugar instead of white, right?"

\- "Raven..."

\- "Have your tea before it gets cold... I took the liberty of making myself a cup too... Tim said I could get comfortable and I needed some chamomile tea..."

\- "Raven..."

"And there's toast... You're hungry, I heard the noise of your stomach from here..." - She smiled weakly

\- "Raven, answer me..."

\- "Do you have to take any pain medicine?"

\- "Raven!" - Damian demanded her attention, his tone rising.

\- "WHAT?" - Raven grunted, finally looking back at him - "What, Damian? What do you want me to say?" That I'm fine? Or that I'm so broken that I feel like a shard?" - She crossed her arms over her chest - "No, I'm not fine... And no I'm not sleeping if I don't take a damn drug that gets me drugged all day and god, I'm not taking the pills because I hate the numb feeling I get all day when I take ... And no, I'm not sleeping a fucking night without waking up screaming because my dreams become my biggest nightmare that is you and Rose not coming in time or getting hurt and I can't do anything about it... And I'm not eating because I just can't... And I push myself because I know I don't want to be like my mother..." 

\- "Raven..." - Raven was practically gasping when she finished speaking

\- "And just as I'm forcing myself to eat, I'm forcing myself to leave home..."

\- "Why?"

\- "Because I need to, Damian... - She took a deep breath - "I need to force myself to do things... If not I'll languish... I don't want this..."

\- "You had a traumatic experience, it's normal that you're afraid..." - Damian wanted to get up and hold her, hold her hands but, he just couldn't - "And you can't just ignore or pretend it's okay..."

\- "And you know what? yes, I'm scared... Scared of you, and Tim and my uncle... I'm scared of every fucking man, boy or hell that's come close to me... And yes, I'm afraid of being in a fucking penthouse alone with a guy... But I hate it... I hate it all so much, and just as I'm forcing myself to eat, I'm forcing myself to leave my house... Because I'm tired and I want to be who I am again... Who I was before this shit... I know, I'm one more of a harassment statistic... I know there are girls who suffer worse, I know if it weren't for you, I would have been raped... And I know that I shouldn't throw everything I'm feeling under the carpet... I FUCKING KNOW, Damian... You don't have to remind me of that... And you can't tell me that I have to stay home and go to meets with a woman who just keeps asking me if I'm alright... Thanks so much but that just won't take away the fear i have of you or any other guy attacking me..."

\- "You know I would never do anything to you..." - He grunted after seeing how she took a deep breath, looking relieved to dump it all out.

-"I know... My uncle would never do anything to me too, not even my 10-year-old cousin... But guess what? I feel like I'm going to have an adrenaline overdose and that I'm going to have a heart attack when they knock on my bedroom door to ask if I'm ok or if I want something to eat..."

\- "And why did you come?" - He was almost getting up and sending her home with his own hands... She shouldn't be there, not in his room, not in his mess, not swallowing a phobia because of a damn sense of pride or debt to him.

\- "Because if I stay in that locked house for another whole 2 hours I swear I'll do something stupid..." - She muttered - "I can't stand the walls of my room anymore... I can't stand my aunt looking at me with pity anymore... I was feeling suffocated by the walls... I needed to get out, I needed air... And just knowing that neither you nor Tim would do anything to me I thought maybe I could pay my hospital debt..." - She turned her eyes as if saying the most obvious thing in the world - "For God's sake Damian... Have this damn tea! It's not easy to make a lemon tea as you like it and if it gets cold it will look terrible!"

\- "I don't care if the tea is cold or not..."

\- "Okay... And I'm not leaving... I promised to help Tim because he needed it and I will do it... And I'll have my tea and I won't care about you and your stomach growling with hunger..." - Damian opened his mouth to counter that he wasn't hungry, but closed it again 

His stomach was about to protest again at the smell of toast that reached his nose.

Damian rolled his eyes and no longer argued, just put the two spoons of sugar as he always did and raised the cup to his lips, the action being watched by Raven with special attention.

Damian drank the tea a little surprised, it wasn't the perfect tea he was used to but certainly didn't taste like old socks like Tim Drake's soup.

Maybe it was hunger or maybe she really knew how to make reasonably good tea.

Raven smiled when she saw him devour a 3-bite toast, content to make him stop acting like a spoiled brat and eat without complaining about anything... Tim had warned her about how he was about food.

In the end, he wasn't so spoiled with food like that...

Raven shook her head and sat in the armchair that was in the corner of the room... That was SO rich people thing... An armchair with table and lamp?

Her room had a bed, a bookcase, some posters on the wall, and some CDs of the band she loved, aka _**Mucuos Membrane¹**_... Aka her favorite punk band that no longer existed...

\- "Don't you eat cream cheese?" - Raven grunted watching him eat only toast

\- "I'm vegetarian..."

\- "Cool..." - She nodded slowly, drinking some of her own tea - "But vegetarians don't eat things with milk?"

\- "Yes..." - He bit another toast - "But I'm cutting the derivatives... I want to go vegan..."

\- "Ah..." - She had both arched eyebrows - "Super cool..."

Who would say that Damian Wayne, billionaire, playboy, annoying and unbearable (_and terribly handsome... What? Stop thinking that_) was involved with the animal cause?

\- "Surprise?"

\- "What? Me? No..."

\- "You look surprised..."

\- "Well... A little... I think..." - She grunted sipping her own tea

\- "Why?"

\- "You don't seem very interested in social causes..."

\- "Seriously? That's what you think of me..."

\- "When you live with a lot of rich and futile girls like those in high school you end up thinking exactly this..."

\- "You talk like you're a poor scholarship girl... You are not even a scholarship holder..."

\- "Wait, how do you know that?"

\- "Knowing..."

\- "You are weird..."

\- "I'm not..." - He looked at her with raised eyebrows - "Anyway... You're no poor thing..."

\- "Hmmm... No... Of course not... I mean... I'm not like you... Your father owns a giant company and you know, the richest family according to Forbes? I don't know... I don't even know who my father is, to be honest..." - Raven laughed crookedly - "My aunt is doing her best so i can study in a good place... And before she disappeared, my mother left a little money for me so... Let's say we live well... But I'm no rich girl spoiled by a billionaire daddy..."

\- "I'm not spoiled by my father..."

\- "First, I didn't name names, you who hurt because I said "rich girl spoiled by a billionaire daddy"... Second, you're spoiled, I just don't know who spoiled you... But you are..."

\- "I'm not..."

\- "Yes you are..."

\- "I'm not..."

\- "You are..."

\- "Okay... Whatever..." - Damian rolled his eyes - "Anyway, I care about social causes that are... Important to me..." - He took a deep breath - "And I'm not spoiled by my father... Amazingly, I have my own money... I'm the heir to the Wayne but I don't enjoy my father's money... I don't need it..."

\- "Ah... Of course...

\- "You don't believe..."

\- "I said nothing..."

\- "No need... I detected irony in your voice..."

\- "You're weird... Did you know that? You talk like a cop... Are you a cop?"

\- "What? No..."

\- "You talk just like a cop... I'm sure you're an undercover cop..."

\- "I... I'm not a cop, Raven..." - Damian took a deep breath, crossing his arms over the tray, drawing a smile from Raven. It was good to see her laugh again

\- "Okay... Alright... You don't have to do this angry boy pose... I understand you have money but you're not a cop..."

\- "Do you think being a cop is... synonymous with money?"

\- "Your brother is a cop..."

\- "Grayson is a detective in the Bludhaven CPD..."

\- "And he seems to be super cool... And rich..."

\- "He is not..." - Damian grumbled turning his attention to the tea - "He is annoying and unbearable... And has tendencies to be sexually irresponsible... Soon will have as many children as my father..."

\- "Wait... The conversation went to an angle I didn't understand..."

\- "It doesn't matter..." - Damian took a deep breath

\- "Do you have a lot of brothers...?"

\- "I'm the only legitimate, if you want to know..." - he grumbled with bored eyes.

\- "I know... I read enough newspaper to know how great Bruce Wayne is benevolent and adopts poor defenseless children..." - Damian looked at her for a few seconds and then shook his head. She had a mocking smile on the dimples of her cheeks.

That smile made Damian's heart skip a beat or two, it was the most beautiful smile he'd ever seen and he didn't even know if he'd seen too many smiles. He took a deep breath shaking his head and found his teacup extremely interesting again after noticing that he was staring at her for five long minutes.

\- "Hmmmm... Yeah..." - He swallowed hard - "My... My father has a strange habit of adopting poor orphans..." - He took a deep breath - "Duke Thomas was the last..."

\- "I don't think I met this..."

\- "Hmmm... He ... He prefers Gotham..."

\- "Ah..." - She nodded slowly, leaning back in her chair - "What were you reading?" - Damian looked at her for a few seconds before he listened to what she was asking.

\- "What?" - She pointed to the books piled on the nightstand - "Ah... I was bored... I took the opportunity to learn more about the pop culture of people here..."

\- "Ah... Can I see?"

\- "Yeah..." - He grunted with a shrug, ignoring the slight twinge in his rib.

Raven set the tea on the table by the armchair and walked over to the books, Damian watched her eyes skim over the spines and glow as her thin, pale fingers slid over the spine of the book.

\- "Have you read all of any of them?"

\- "Hmmm... All of them" - She paused her finger over Pride and Prejudice - "This is one of my favorites..."

\- "I know..." - Damian grunted with a shrug and Raven looked at him with her mouth open. - "Don't look at me like that, you're always reading it in the refectory, during class breaks, when you're not doing PE..."

\- "You are weird..."

\- "Observer..."

\- "It's still weird..."

\- "Whatever..." - He rolled his eyes - "If you like it so much, is yours..."

\- "What?"

\- "It's a first impression, you won't find it in any bookstores..." - Damian mumbled - "Is yours... I don't like novels..." - He grimaced

\- "I can not accept..."

\- "You not only can, but you should... If you don't, I'll send him to your house through the Post Office..." - He grunted without looking at her - "And if he still comes back, I'll leave him at your dorm door..."

\- "But it's from your private library..."

\- "And that's why I can give anyone I want..."

\- "Why are you giving me so many things? Why did you want to help me? Why are you giving me this book? You don't even like me..."

\- "I don't know..." - He took a deep breath - "Maybe you're not as annoying as I imagined..."

\- "You're not that annoying when you want to either..." she grunted, smiling, hugging the book to her chest - "Thank you, Damian..." - Damian felt his ears and cheeks get hot...

Why was it so hard to swallow saliva?

\- "I'm not annoying..."

\- "You are..."

\- "Ah..." - He rolled his eyes and took a deep breath trying to change the subject and to take that heat that dared to take over his cheeks - "Whatever... Go have your tea... And eat something too... Since you will insist on staying here you will feed and get some sleep... You have lost too much weight and you have huge dark circles under your eyes..."

\- "No need..."

\- "It's an order, Raven..."

\- "I don't take orders from you..."

\- "Here you get..." - He grunted pointing his index finger at her - And could you help me walk into the room? I really can't take my bedroom and this bed anymore... I feel like I'll become part of it if I stay here a little longer..." - She laughed waving yes

\- "Okay... I'll rescue you from your tower, Prince Rapunzel... But..." - She grunted walking around the room - "After you clean these bruises... I don't want Tim to think I've been here all day floundering in the luxuries of the great T-tower..."

\- "Drake won't find anything..." - He grunted, rolling his eyes - "He'll probably need a bib..."

\- What?

\- "Nothing, he's an idiot... And I don't need to clean anything, my bruises are already healed..."

\- "Damian, you have eyebrow stitches..." - She arched an eyebrow. Are you afraid of the first aid kit?

\- "I'm not afraid of anything..."

\- "So it's decided, let's clean it up and then I'll help you down the stairs..."

\- "I have a choice?"

\- "Well, you have... Either you clean or do not go down to the living room and turn part of your bed..." - Damian snorted defeated. 

Why couldn't he say no to her?

\- "Okay... Fine... Just do it..."

\- "Good choice, Wayne..." - She smiled, placing the book near the unfinished teacup - "Where's the first aid kit?"

\- "In the bathroom" - He grumbled pointing - "Third drawer..."

\- "Okay..." - She laughed and left the room, disappearing into the bathroom door.

Damian took a deep breath, leaning his head against the wall. Maybe he was crazy, maybe he had too much on his mind but...

Why did he feel she was lighter? More smiling? Could it be that he was helping her in some way? And why did he like to have her there? Why did hearing her laugh when he said something stupid made it feel like everything was wrapped around his stomach? And why did he blush when she said he wasn't annoying? That was stupid...

And it was a lot of questions for him to spend the night thinking.

She came back 15 minutes later with a bunch of things in her hand and a damp towel balancing on top of everything.

\- "It's just a few points, Raven... It's not like I have disfigured my face..."

\- "Yes, but your nose is broken and needs care too..." she grumbled, becoming tense again as she sat next to him.

\- "Are you okay with this...?" - Damian's voice was almost a whisper, but she understood perfectly and nodded.

\- "I'll stay... Don't worry about it..."

\- "You know you're not obligated... I can change these bandages..."

\- "I imagine the job well done you can do with one hand..." - Raven grunted wryly - "Now be quiet. I don't want to accidentally blind you."

\- "Okay..." - He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Waiting for the wetness of the towel to contact your skin. Raven was very careful and her touch was very soft and smooth despite the fact that her fingertips were cold, almost ghostly.

After wiping with the towel in silence, Raven took a deep breath and decided to break the silence, making Damian open his eyes again.

\- "Your room isn't as I imagined it was..."

\- "Hmmm?"

\- "Your room... It doesn't look like a teenager's room..."

\- "And that's bad?"

\- "No... Of course not..". - She mumbled without looking at him, while wetting some merbromina in a cotton - "Just... Different..."

\- "How?"

\- "Well... When you think of a teenage room, you imagine posters of favorite bands and photos of friends and a bit of a mess..."

\- "Ah..." - She reached out and lightly pressed the cotton against the cut - "Ouch! What is it?"

\- "Merbromina..." - She grunted pressing a little more - "It's mercury... Burns a little... But it's old recipe, my aunt always used on my child injuries..." - She laughed - "With what you came cleaning it up?"

\- "Saline, healing ointments..."

\- "You were not even sterealizing it... So it didn't heal until today..." - She grunted - "Anyway... Your room is kinda too serious... What? Don't like music?"

\- "I... Ouch!..." - He mumbled a curse in Arabic almost without realizing it - "Hmmm... Of course I like music... But I can't see why I fill the room with things like that..."

\- "It's being a teenager in America, Damian..." - She smiled, returning to silence for a short while.

\- "Did you and Drake get close enough...?"

\- "Hmm?"

\- "You and Drake... have you talked a lot?"

\- "Hmmm... No... I don't know what _'talking a lot'_ means to you..." - She made a face and Damian swallowed the bitter taste that threatened to rise in her throat - "I met him at that party, but he always sends me one message or another wondering if i'm fine... He's cool..."

\- "He's not cool..."

\- "Of course he's cool..."

\- "No, he's not..." - Damian muttered sulkily - "He's just another idiot..."

\- "Why do you always try to shrink your brothers...? They are very affectionate to you and you always say they are idiots..."

\- "Because they are idiots, Raven..."

\- "I don't think... Tim is super funny and smart... And is super considerate..."

\- "I am gonna puke..."

\- "Is that jealous of your brother, Damian?"

\- "What? Why would I be jealous of Drake? Please Raven, don't make a laugh..."

\- "I don't know, maybe you want your big brother just for you ..."

\- "No..."

\- "Hmm"

\- "And if you're going to drool over him, you'd better be silent. It's enough for Wilson every time she comes here."

\- "Rose came here?"

\- "Yeah... About two or three times last week... She didn't tell you anything?"

\- "And what did she come here for?"

\- "Hmmm ... Nothing... Nothing special..." - Damian muttered, shaking the stupid thought that came into his mind to have noticed a different tone in her voice - "She brings me the materials I'm missing, we talk a little..."

\- "Ah..."

\- "Why?"

\- "Nothing, I didn't know Rose was _that_ helpful to you."

\- "Hmmm... And I didn't know you were talking to my brother..."

\- "You make it sound like I'm relating to your brother..."

\- "Hmmm..." - He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes again. Raven's touch wasn't nearly that nonexistent anymore, she pressed the cotton a little harder against the stitches.

It was almost twenty minutes of silence between them, with Damian sometimes cursing at the medicine she was giving him, until Raven took a deep breath breaking the silence again.

\- "You're not from here... Right?"

\- "Well, the whole Wayne family is from Gotham..."

\- "No... That's not what I'm talking about... I know you all have a nest in Gotham..." - She laughed - "But you don't look like this... You're not an American, as your family are..."

\- "Why do you say that..." - He arched his eyebrow in curiosity. He knew he was different from his brothers, but he didn't expect them to notice it like that... Because, he considered himself to be a lot like his own father.

\- "Well... I'm observant too" - She laughed

\- "And what did you observe that made you come to this conclusion?"

\- "Hmmm..." - _Has a beautiful skin tone, has an accent that makes my heart jump, and a green ocean in the eyes, and has soft and warm lips... What? Shut up_ \- "You always curse in another language..." - Raven muttered, silencing the voice in her head - "And has accent..."

\- "Accent?"

\- "Yes..."

\- "Ah..."

\- "Where you are from?"

\- "Hmmmm... I can not say a correct location but... But the most accurate thing to say is in the Middle East..."

\- "Are you Arabian?" - Raven said, a tone more surprised than he expected - "I should have noticed the language..."

\- "My grandmother on the mother's side is Chinese... I'm not 100% Arabian..."

\- "Arab-American-Chinese... Cool"

\- "My grandfather was..." - _This, say your grandfather was a murderous fanatic who raised you purely to be like him_ \- "Arab nomad..."

\- "Oh... Cool... This is really really cool..."

\- "You think?"

\- "Of Course!"

\- "Oh..."

\- "I always thought you were just a tan addicted guy..."

\- "What?"

\- "What?... Never mind..." - She shook her head - "Hmmm... It's so cool that you're a cultural cauldron..." - She laughed - "In fact, it makes sense now..."

\- "And that's bad?"

\- "No... It's actually kind of cute..."

\- "Cute?"

\- "Yeah... Show that you're full of layers... That you don't show anyone..."

\- "Ah..." - He opened his mouth to say something, but the words faded from his mind. What could he say after she said he was _"cute"_? - "Hmmm... And you?"

\- "Me what?"

\- "Are you from here?"

\- "Ah..." - She stopped, eyebrows almost together - "I think so... My aunt doesn't talk much about my past..."

\- "Or about your father?"

\- "No... I don't know who he is and... I discovered a short time ago that my conception wasn't as I imagined, so... I'm better not knowing him..."

\- "And your mother?"

\- "Well... She was young when she got pregnant and had no psychological condition to raise a child, so when I turned 8 she took me to my aunt and I grew up with her since those 9 years..."

\- "Ah..." - Damian nodded - "Well... Until I was 10 I didn't know who my father was personally... So one day, my mother decided it was time... And just left me in Gotham with him..."

\- "Maybe she has her reasons..."

\- "Of course there is... I mean, had..." - He took a deep breath - "She died in a plane crash a few years ago..."

\- "Ah... I'm sorry, I didn't know..."

\- "Alright... There was no way you could know..."

\- "In the end, our parents suck...."

\- "And you're right..." - Damian grumbled looking at Raven... They had so much in common that they could have been friends all this time if it wasn't for two idiots spending time arguing with each other all the time.

Damian noticed that she was restless, as if to say something.

\- "Put it out"

\- "What?"

\- "What do you want to say... Put it out..."

\- "Uh..." - She stopped taking the bandage from his nose and stared at her own hands.

\- "Raven... Speak..."

\- "You know... You're cool... When you're not an asshole..."

\- "What? What are you talking about?"

\- "Why you told Hun -... to him... that you wanted to put me on your stupid sex list? Why did you have to be that asshole when you're clearly cool?"

Damian gritted his teeth... 

He was going to kill Hunter for lying about him


	13. Chapter 13

\- "List? What list?"

Raven took a deep breath, feeling a strange relief to take care of her... If he didn't know what that list was, Hunter was certainly lying, right? Not that she really believed what he said before... That... But something still bothered Raven in the whole story, like a thorn that needed to be taken out.

Raven stared at him for a second and Damian couldn't read what was written on her face... It was a thousand things and nothing at the same time...

He only knew that for some reason this had to do with Hunter.

Raven bit the inside of her cheek and rolled her eyes, not wanting to look at Damian... It was embarrassing to talk about it now out loud and she felt stupid to believe both boys... Boys lied to get what they wanted

\- "Hmmmm..." - Raven took a deep breath, a cotton ball dancing between her fingers without her being able to look at Damian - "After the... After the library, Hun-he came to me and said that I should walk away, that you had a list..."

\- "Mm..."

\- "Of girls..."

\- "And what would I have a girl list for?"

\- "Girls who... You have sex, Damian..." - Damian looked at her with his mouth open. Was she listening to herself? What made her think that?

\- "And you believed that?"

\- "Well, you're like..."

\- "What makes you think I'm like this?"

\- "You're rich, you have a lot of girls around you..." - _And incredibly handsome_... Raven bit the inside of her cheek harder - "It's normal to believe when they say you're a guy with an extensive sexual list..."

\- "If you knew me you would know I don't have any stupid lists..." - Damian grumbled looking at Raven, his eyes a dark green, hidden behind his long lashes.

\- "If you weren't so annoying maybe I would know you better..."

\- "If you weren't so annoying right little girl maybe I wouldn't be annoying..."

\- "If you weren't so.... Ugh!" - Raven took a deep breath with her eyes closed.

\- "'So' what?"

\- "Cocky, annoying, spoiled, selfish...

\- "Do you think this?"

\- "Everyone thinks you like this..."

\- "Mmmm..."

\- "Anyway..." - Raven rolled her eyes. - "I just thought it made sense for you to have a stupid list of sex... Boys do stupid things... Especially now knowing that Rose came here during the week... I didn't know that you were the kind of boy that pleased Rose..." - Raven grumbled without looking at him, a kind of bitter spilling over her words...

Why did she care so much whether or not Rose was sleeping with him?

\- "What? Do you think me and Wilson...?"

\- "Rose has a list..."

\- "Stop... No... I have nothing with Wilson..."

\- "Well, I wouldn't doubt if you had..."

\- "I don't have... We just... Just talk... She brings me things from school since I'm tied to this bed..."

\- "Mmmm..."

\- "And honestly why in fucking hell you believed I would be that kind of asshole?"

\- "I don't know, you're a spoiled, selfish little rich... Why should I believe you wouldn't be?"

\- "I'm not..."

\- "And how will I believe this ...? Boys are boys... And sex seems like something you boys have to do before your pants explode..."

\- "Because I don't do that!" - he muttered, his voice rising an octave. He stared at her feeling his control come out of his hand, as she could always do with him. Damian took a deep breath, letting the air out slowly as he tried to explain.

How would he convince her that he didn't have a list of girls he had sex with simply because he hadn't had sex yet?

He didn't want to expose himself like this... He could already imagine her laughing and asking if he was a virgin just like Jason did, just like Dick did, just like Rose did...

He didn't understand the pressure to lose his virginity and why it should be in his teens, but apparently it was something important that he was too late to achieve... Even though he was 17 years old yet...

Gods after so many years in the west and he still had things to learn...

\- "Mmmmm..." - Raven took a deep breath and just put the bandage on his face

\- "Listen, this conversation is stupid... I have nothing to do with Rose... I don't know why she didn't tell you she was coming here... And definitely I don't have a list of girls I slept with or things like that... That's a jerk attitude..." - He took a deep breath, what was he saying? - "Rose just comes here to talk about..." - _You - "About school... I... I don't have a sex list... And even if I was that kind of asshole, I wouldn't put you on a stupid sex list... That was something stupid that Hunt-troglodyte said... An unfounded lie... You're not a girl for this..."_

_Raven looked at him, an arched eyebrow, her mouth open as she held the cotton midway, paralyzed._

_\- "Oh... Okay... Was that... Rude...?" - She blinked twice - "You don't have to throw it in my face that I'm not one of those sexy and beautiful model girls that your Wayne pattern is used to..."_

_\- "What?" - Damian had his head tilted to the side. - "Oh... N-no... It's not that... Fuck..." - How could he explain that he wouldn't put her on the list because she didn't deserve to be treated like that? That she was beautiful, intelligent, sweet, kind, and nicer than he had imagined and deserved to be treated like a princess and not a casual fuck?_

_ _Damn Damian, just say it!_ _

_\- "No, I understood perfectly, _Wayne_..."_

_Damian took mental notes of how she referred to him, when she was nervous and upset, she called him Wayne, when it was casual conversation and she was quiet, she called him Damian... _

_He didn't know why, but he took mental notes of everything from the first day he saw her in the classroom._

_\- "No... You don't understand... I'm shit to express myself..." - He took a deep breath - "Look... I... Didn't want to be rude ... Damn why is it so easy to kill someone but is it so hard to say something?" - He punched the side of the bed - "You got me wrong... That's not what I meant..."_

_Raven smiled... The kind of smile that could light up all of San Francisco._

_A smile that lit him up..._

_\- "Okay, Damian... I get it... I don't even know why I'm talking about it... Apparently you don't owe me any satisfaction regarding your private life... And you already made it clear that you have no list... I'll trust you once..." - Raven grunted storing the drugs in the first aid bag again._

_\- "I'm an idiot with words... But..." - He took a deep breath - "You're cool, Raven... I was an idiot for spending this two years being an idiot with you..." - He took a deep breath again - "I... I don't know how to make friends... And I... I can't express myself when it comes to being... Being kind to someone... And Wilson... She's helping me with this..."_

_\- "Oh..." - Raven grumbled, looking at him._

_He seemed to be fighting something, his own currents, his own convictions. He closed his eyes and shook his head._

_Raven took a deep breath, letting the air oxygenate her brain. She never imagined he had this kind of problem, he was a Wayne, it shouldn't be hard to make friends with that name... But of course, friends who would care only about the weight of his name..._

_Raven nodded, remembering that even surrounded by people, he always seemed alone, silent and looking at her from afar..._

_\- "This is not the first time we have exchanged offenses, Damian... And surely it will not be the last... We do it for two years... We are different, like water and oil... It's normal that we shock each other... And well... After a few months I learned to just ignore the things you say directed at me... My mental health thanks..."_

_\- "I know..." - He grunted and Raven saw a slight red tone take over his cheeks - "I'm an asshole, you can say that with all the words..."_

_\- "You're an asshole..." - she mumbled holding back a laugh. She felt good, it was the first time she saw him strip off the shell she knew, it was as if she knew another Damian Wayne..._

_And she liked that..._

_\- "I... I had no intention of hurting you... I expressed myself wrong..." - He took a deep breath and Raven watched him clench his hands in fist - "What I mean is, I wouldn't put you on a list because you're a girl who doesn't deserve to be treated like one more..." - He snorted - "You deserve someone who treats you as the only and special girl you are... So you don't deserve to be in one stupid list of girls someone has had casual sex with... You shouldn't be treated as just another..." - Damian finally managed to say, feeling a strange heat in his chest and cheeks - "You're unique..."_

_His eyes lifted, meeting Raven's. She had huge blue orbits in it, her cheeks were slightly pink and that blush extended to her ears. Damian watched closely as her irises turned a shade of dark blue like the ocean they were, how her hands clenched into fists, and how even at that distance he could see the pulse point in her neck accelerate._

_Damian wondered what it would be like to place a kiss in that. Images of when they kissed in the library only filled his memory, it had been months since that had happened, but it still just seemed very fresh in his mind._

_A long minute of silence stretched between them and Damian tried to replay in his mind if he had said anything wrong, trying to find a flaw in his explanation._

_Had he said a lot? They hated each other, right? Damian's brain was working a thousand hours an hour, was it going too fast? He just didn't want her to think he was an idiot... Damian tried to think of something when her eyes left his, running the length of his face, down the length of his cheeks and stopping at his lips._

_She seemed to be fighting something inside her..._

_Raven took a deep breath, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, and then stared at the window for a few seconds, a smile threatening to leave the corner of her lip._

_\- "It's hard not to believe you're a real Don Juan..." - She laughed, wetting her lips and Damian followed the action with his eyes more closely than was needed, what was that? - "You play dirty..."_

_\- "What?"_

_\- "Yeah... You play dirty..." - She laughed - "You have a convincing talk... This talk of "You're unique", "You're special" and all this bullshit is an old flirt... And usually girls fall for this whole thing, because deep down we all want to feel unique and special... You don't really think I'm special... It's just... things happened between us... And you're a boy... Boys will always be boys... I won't fall that easy, Wayne"_

_\- "Do you think I'm lying to just kiss you? Don't fuck me, Raven..."_

_\- "No, I don't think you're lying..." - She laughed. - "But it's like, two years that you just hate me" - She laughed weakly- "You wouldn't change just because I cleaned your bruises and made a medium lemon tea or because we kissed once or twice totally accidentally... I wouldn't kiss you willingly..."_

_\- "Three times... And I didn't forced you kiss me on any of them..."_

_\- "Oh shut up..." - Raven threw the pillow at him - "You would be the last mouth in the world I would kiss freely and spontaneously"_

_\- "You wanted to kiss me at the fair, sleeping princess..."_

_\- "Moron..."_

_\- "And for your stupid information, that's not why I'm saying you're unique or special or whatever..." - He took a deep breath he had a raised eyebrow - "I can recognize when someone is a nice person... And you have unique qualities... I haven't 'changed'... You're still a pretty annoying girl... But with unique qualities... And stop saying that I hated you... You're not that special..."_

_\- "Yes, you hated me... Did you just say that I was "unique" and now you said "you're not that special"?"_

_\- "No, I didn't hate you"_

_\- "You hated me..."_

_\- "No, I didn't..."_

_\- "You hated me... God did you just say I'm not that special, cruelly?" - She held back a laugh, shaking her head._

_She just didn't notice that the giant magnet between them was pulling her close to him again, ignoring all the fears she had acquired. Raven now had her index finger pointed at his chest._

_\- "I didn't hate you... And I just found you annoying... And you're definitely annoying, the most annoying girl I've ever met..."_

_\- "And you're annoying too"_

_\- "I?"_

_\- "Yes, you!"_

_\- "You are annoying!"_

_\- "You!"_

_\- "You..."_

_\- "Ugh! You're so..."_

_\- "So what, Raven?" - Damian whispered, his eyes locked on Raven's soft pink lips. - "You need to find a better word to define what I am... You always get lost..."_

_\- "You're so..." - Damian could see her breathing get heavy, as if it was hard to find the air. - "Idiot..." - She managed to mumble, almost a whisper coming from her lips, her eyes lost in the green emeralds of Damian_

_She shifted on the bed, bending a little toward him, seeming uncertain of her own actions and Damian found his breath catch in his throat as she bit her lower lip so softly that Damian had to hold back not to ask her if she had really bitten her lip._

_The air was almost rare for him, he felt suffocating and he just wondered what it would be like just how slow it was torturing him.... A damn broken rib prevented him from just sinking into those lips and holding on to them like a float that would save his life in a stormy blue ocean._

_She was so close to him, Damian could taste the chamomile tea she had drunk mixed with mint, pepper, lavender and vanilla on his tongue... He didn't even know if she really had those tastes, he didn't even know if she was really that close to him or if he was having some kind of optical illusion._

_The tip of her nose touched his and Damian found himself stupidly nervous, yearning to feel all those tastes in his mouth, all those outbursts on his tongue. Damian reached out to touch her cheek and noticed her shrink and close her eyes, but didn't take it away from his touch._

_He felt his senses turn inside out, his head had every red alert ringing and he had a voice in the back of his head telling him to stop that, that someone could come, that he should be the voice of reason there, but for some reason, his mind was completely clouded, as if he could do nothing but kiss her._

_She was so close, so close..._

_Why was it so hard to swallow saliva? Why did he seem to be choking? And what was that heat in the chest?_

_All the answers seemed to lie in those pink lips in front of him, just over two inches from his half-open ones._

_He just needed-_

_\- "Damian! Rae! Are you there?..."_

_Raven blinked a few times and then shook her head away from him almost in a leap. So fast that Damian wondered if it was humanly possible for her to do. Before Tim opened the bedroom door, Raven was sitting in her chair again, her face sunk into her already cold teacup, trying to hide the flush that had washed over her cheeks and with a grimace, as if she were smelling a horrible thing._

_Damian had his hands clenched into fists, too confused by the occasion and too frustrated that he had not tasted those lips again._

_Tim Drake and his lousy timings._

_\- "Ah... You are here... Is everything okay? You are silent..."_

_\- "Ahnn... Yeah... We were... Reading..." - Raven grunted looking too distracted._

_\- "Ah..." - Tim looked at them both for a few minutes._

_\- "Is everything okay, Drake?" - Damian muttered, an arched eyebrow_

_\- "Sure..." - He smiled crookedly, looking from Raven to Damian and then to Raven again._

_\- "Hmmm... Timmy... Damian asked to leave the room today..." - Raven grunted, putting her hands in her pocket_

_\- "I didn't asked..."_

_\- "You asked..."_

_\- "No, I didn't ask," - Damian muttered, rolling his eyes. - "I suggested that you help me get a little into the room ..."_

_\- "Whatever..." - Raven rolled her eyes and turned to Tim - "Hmm... I think... It wouldn't hurt him to walk a little..."_

_\- "Hmm... Okay..." - Tim nodded slowly and Damian rolled his eyes._

_He had been talking about that to Tim for days, but it was only Raven suggesting that apparently he had changed his mind._

_\- "Maybe you need a bib, Drake..."_

_\- "Hmmm ...? What?"_

_\- "Nothing..." - Damian took a deep breath_

_\- "Hmmm..." - Tim shook his head._

_\- "Is Damian such an idiot always or does he change when I'm around?"_

_\- "Believe me, he's much worse when you're not around, Rae..."_

_\- "Hey! I'm still here, okay?"_

_\- "Anyway..." - Raven grunted laughing - "Can you help him down...? I was going to do that, but you are here..."_

_\- "I can do it myself"_

_\- "And it would probably hurt even more..." - Raven grumbled. - "Stop being grumpy, Damian..."_

_\- "I'm not grumpy... You treat me like I'm a child..." - Damian rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest._

_\- "Anyway... Raven, of course I'll take him downstairs... Can you go ahead and fix the pillows? D have to be very well supported, the pillow help keep the rib in place..."_

_\- "Okay..." - Raven nodded, she went to Damian and took the tray without looking at him and left the room, leaving Tim and Damian looking where she had disappeared._

_\- "Could you be a little kinder to her?" - Tim grunted between his teeth._

_\- "What are you saying?"_

_\- "That you're being an idiot with a nice girl..."_

_\- "I'm being kind..."_

_\- "Oh, of course I can see..." - He rolled his eyes - "You'll see that's why you don't have any girlfriend to this day... You don't know how to be a gentleman..."_

_\- "What? Do me a favor, Timothy Drake..."_

_\- "I am lying? Raven didn't even look you in the face..." - Tim rolled his eyes - "I asked you to be kind to her..."_

_\- "You don't know what you're talking about..." - Damian took a deep breath - "We... We talk... Despite our differences..."_

_\- "Oh... A breakthrough... How many times did you say she was an idiot?"_

_\- "Oh shut up..." - Damian rolled his eyes and put his feet out of bed, strangely, no longer hurt. He knew he was fine, didn't even feel his swollen nose._

_Apparently seeing someone other than Tim Drake's face made him feel better._

_Tim was looking at him with a curious look on his face, his head tilted to the side, watching Damian's face intently._

_\- "What?"_

_\- "Funny... Your face is much better... It didn't improve your ugliness, but... Your bruises... are MUCH better..."_

_\- "What?"_

_\- "Your face has almost no bruises... Even the swelling of your nose gave way a little..."_

_\- "Hmmm..." - Damian blinked a few times and rubbed his cheek. - "I said you were exaggerating..."_

_\- "Well, you were much worse when I left..." - Tim arched his eyebrow - "Your points on your eyebrow are closed... You will have a slight pink scar there... Probably, you can remove those points, by the way..."_

_\- "You were exaggerating." - Damian rolled his eyes. - "It seems like I'd improve like a magic..."_

_\- "Hmmm... Yeah, it makes sense..." - Tim shook his head - "I think she's a good nurse..."_

_\- "She is..." - Damian sighed - "Really good..."_

_\- "Oh... What am I seeing? A sigh? Rosy cheeks...? Oh.... Damian... By any chance are you having any feelings for... For Raven?"_

_\- "What? Do not be stupid..."_

_\- "You said she's a good nurse... And you're all sighed there..."_

_\- "What? I'm not sighing!" - Damian gritting his teeth - "I mean... She's... Careful... And knows how to handle a first aid kit..."_

_\- "Uhum... Of course..." - Tim grunted laughing - "Well... We should call her more often... To... You know... Knowing how to handle a first aid kit..."_

_\- "Shut up..." - Damian rolled his eyes - "Are you going to be talking nonsense or will you help me down? Because if you're going to be acting like a gossip I'll come down alone..."_

_\- "Okay... I'll help... Come on..." - Tim grunted, trying not to laugh as he helped Damian slowly down the stairs that led to the huge, brightly lit TV room._

_Raven was unpretentiously adjusting the pillows, as if trying to get some control of things around her as she did so. Damian really wanted to ask if she was okay, but he knew Tim wouldn't leave him alone if that happened..._

_It was stupid, but Damian knew what it was like to have Tim, Dick, and Jason as brothers._

_After Damian sat on the couch and argued with Tim about what to watch on TV (Raven was silent, laughing at the two of them arguing as children on the remote) they ended up deciding to watch a romantic comedy, Damian rolling his eyes most of the time, since he was a minority... But he didn't complain... Not when halfway through the movie, Raven let her head fall to his shoulder._

_It was strange to have her so relaxed by his side... at the beginning of the year, if told that he would be watching romantic comedy with Raven leaning against his shoulder, he would laugh and then ask if the person was crazy..._

_He just prayed she wouldn't hear his heart pounding in his chest._

_Raven on the contrary, was feeling dizzy and with a headache threatening to explode in her head, but for some strange and unexplained reason, the cinnamon smell that came from Damian helped her stay centered ... So she shyly let her head fall to his shoulder..._

_She seemed to be invaded by a wave of feelings, she didn't like it..._

_Don't get it wrong, in general, Raven felt good, like she didn't feel for days... But something inside her seemed to want to come out, like in the darkness of her room, like the monsters under her bed when she was a child..._

_She wasn't the same anymore, something had woken up inside her and it was... Weird... and made her afraid._

_She tried to focus on things and not on that feeling that was digging and eroding her insides, wanting at all costs to take control of her and get out... She had been fighting that feeling since she came back from the hospital, but she didn't want to tell anyone..._

_Raven didn't want her aunt to look at her like a poor thing, someone who needed pity... Raven didn't want to be seen as sick or crazy... She struggled every day of her life not to be like Angela, she wouldn't be her now..._

_So she just pushed it all in. She had a lot to deal with, she didn't need that paranoia._

_At the end of the day, Tim offered to take Raven home, and Raven could have sworn she was almost whole again when she laughed at Damian and Timmy, she could almost be curious about what it was like with the rest._

_Damian wasn't an asshole as she imagined, and confirming that Hunter had just told a stupid lie about him made Raven feel light and relieved... She didn't believe Damian could do that, but part of her needed to hear that..._

_Raven knew something had changed, she knew she couldn't just see him as the spoiled and selfish brat she always thought he was in the past two years... She, for some reason, wanted to know more of him, to see what else they had in common, find out more about the other layers he hid..._

_Raven took a deep breath, throwing herself into her bed, hugging the book he had given her. He had saved her, he had helped her, and given gifts even though she refused to accept... He had been kind and worried about how she was handling it, even if they hated each other... _

_Maybe they wouldn't hated it now,   
Maybe she should raise the white flag of truce in their little teasing war...   
Maybe he could be a her almost-new-friend now... If he wanted to._

_Raven sighed, looking at the book... Damian Wayne was an idiot, but... Could she like it?_


	14. Chapter 14

\- "I can't believe you're the right boy who does nothing wrong... No... This is all wrong!"

\- "Why?" - He grunted looking at Raven. She stared at him incredulously, as if he'd said a huge nonsense as she futilely tried to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear just to be knocked over by the light breeze that beat at them.

\- "Because you are the bad guy in this school..."

\- "You take this label shit too seriously..." - Damian grunted with a grimace - "I don't know where this 'fame' came from..."

\- "Hmmm... You broke a boy's arm in the first year, got into more fights than you could tell... You smell like trouble..."

\- "I don't smell trouble!" - Damian rolled his eyes - "There were reasons for these fights..."

\- "Oh, I can imagine..." - Raven grunted smiling and that made Damian's heart skip a beat.

Weird

Since the day Raven had spent the day at Penthouse being some sort of Tim's assistant nurse, they began to get closer than they had in two years. Raven showed them songs and movies he didn't know and they shared silent readings sitting against the glass of the conservatory. Damian found himself opening more to her than anyone else in high school, and he could even tell that they were almost friends, except for the times they ended up arguing for something stupid.

Or by the almost kisses that happened every now and then, Damian had gotten used to the interruptions, especially the interruptions caused by Tim on the roof or by Garfield and Rose in high school.

Back to school was surrounded by rumors, stories about what happened, how damian he was simply ignoring when asked if it was true that he had tried to stab Hunter or if it was true that he found Raven naked and went crazy because she was his girlfriend....

No, the rumors would disappear at some point, someone would be the subject soon, he just had to roll his eyes and keep walking.

He just didn't count on how close he ended up becoming to Raven and consequently Rose, Tara, Garfield and Jaime. And he didn't expect to choke, lose his breath, think he'd see his heart out of his mouth and die from a heart attack, feel cold and hot almost at the same time whenever Raven came into the room.

She always came in intently talking and sometimes laughing with a friend, most of the time, her hair tied in a ponytail and her very well-groomed uniform. She always came in, headed for her own place and then looked where Damian was...

And each time she looked, Damian almost felt sick. It was so strange that he almost believed he was really ill. 

A quick trip to Gotham and a quick checkup with Alfred might answer that question.

On the first day, she waved at him with one hand as she held the books to her chest with the other, a faint little smile painting her lips as she headed for her own table.

Then came the pair schoolwork together, and the library trips to study together, lunch together in the cafeteria, and then, two weeks later, the two of them were sitting there in the gym bleachers, talking about their lives while sharing a headset.

Damian was learning to like the many bands she indicated, he always ended up hearing everything a thousand times a day until she came up with something new...

\- "And you?"

\- "Me what?" - Raven scowled

\- "Never done anything wrong?"

\- "No...!" - She laughed - "Of course not"

\- "No problem with the authorities?"

\- "No..."

\- "Enter forbidden places?"

\- "No..."

\- "Older parties?" 

\- "Clubs? No"

\- "Oh come on... Not even fake ID? Being friends with Wilson?"

\- "No of course not... You said, I take this label shit seriously..."

\- "You can't keep a clean record when you're friends with Wilson and Logan..."

\- "And you..." - Raven smiled poking his arm - "You're trouble..."

\- "tt'..."

\- "But... I do my best to not get involved in the mess Rose makes... I get this shitty label label for a reason..."

\- "You're a witch then...?"

\- "What? No..." - Raven had an arched eyebrow - "This is a label I don't know where it came from..."

\- "Well, you're... Peculiar..."

\- "Peculiar?" - Raven laughed, her head falling back - "You don't have to try to compliment me, Damian... I won't die without a compliment from the trouble boy..."

\- "I'm not a trouble boy....!"

\- "You are..." - Raven grunted, biting her mouth.

\- "No, I'm not and I will not start this war again..." - Damian shook his head - "Anyway, getting back to the subject... You're peculiar... Something special... Almost magical... Ethereal"

\- "Okay, you will insist on that..."

\- "I don't know..." - Damian had an arched eyebrow. "You really look like something magical... Something naturally magical..." - Damian grumbled without looking at her, his fingers curling into the loose strands of his jeans.

\- "Are you trying to flirt, Damian Wayne?" - She grunted laughing

\- "What? No!" - Raven laughed, hands over her mouth watching him as Damian felt his ears burn. - "Why would I flirt with you? This is stupid..."

\- "I don't know... I'm messing with you" - Raven laughed biting her lower lip - "Anyway... I think I have to say... Thank you? For the peculiar thing..."

\- "You're welcome..." - Damian took a deep breath.

\- "And I have no magic... There is no magic..." - Raven had a raised eyebrow - "This is not Harry Potter, although you are a Muggle..."

\- "Hmm... You wouldn't believe what you're saying if it came from where I come from" - Damian took a deep breath and shook his head... No, she didn't need to know about his past - "Anyway... What I mean is that... You have something magical and... It makes people believe that you are a witch..."

\- "Oh fuck... You just found my secret," - Raven grumbled wryly. - "And now I'll have to turn into a frog."

\- "HAHAHA... Stupid..."

\- "Anyway... No, I'm not a witch, Damian... And you smell like trouble... And it's absurd that you didn't do any mischief.... You're an bad guy...!"

\- "If you say..." - Damian grunted laughing - "And you're peculiar... And... Beautiful... Wow... Really beautiful, actually... Strangely, amazingly and curiously beautiful..."

\- "Oh..." - Raven opened her mouth to say something, blue eyes wide open on Damian as if he'd said something too surprising.

\- "I mean... I'm talking like... Someone who draws... It's not talking romantically or like I'm trying to flirt..." - He rubbed his face - "Oh gods that's stupid... Forget it..."

Raven just nodded and smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear without looking at him.

_Had he said she was beautiful, peculiar and magical? Was he being courteous to her? Could he...? No..._

Raven chewed her lip and looked ahead, seeing some students walking across the grass of the field. Damian looked at her expectantly, but just let the silence fall between them, being filled only by the sound of music playing distant on the headset.

\- "Lavender?" - Damian grumbled, wrinkling his nose as if he had just smelled something.

\- "Hmm?"

\- "Your perfume... Is it lavender?" - He still wasn't looking at her and Raven saw a red tinge to his cheeks, rising to his ears and neck.

Raven watched her eyes follow the line of his neck, seeing as his pulse point quickened and noticing little marks there, pink scars that were almost imperceptible.

Raven wondered how many scars he could have and what led to so many scars in such a short lifetime. His arms were very marked, she had seen it in the penthouse.

Raven shook her head and bit her lip, returning to the earth and stopping to stare at him. That was rude and stupid.

\- "Ahnnn..." - Raven grunted sniffing the collar of the button-down shirt - "Yeah... It's... It's lavender..."

\- "Curious..." - Damian grumbled absently, tearing at the lint of his jeans with his fingers. - "An unusual choice of perfume, actually..."

\- "Uhnn ... It was ... It was my mother's..." - She mumbled softly biting her lip - "She... Used a lavender perfume when I lived with her..." - Raven smiled at the vague memory that she there was Angela dancing around their little apartment, the scent lulling Raven into her mother's warm embrace when she was still very young and scared of the voices, of the monsters under her bed.

\- "Oh..."

\- "I found a bottle in my aunt's house, apparently it was my mother's favorite perfume so... It reminds me of her..."

\- "Mm..." - He nodded slowly, as if trying to think what to say.

Damian was really trying to think what to say. He tried to get out of an awkward situation where he couldn't control his mouth by looking at the ocean floor in her eyes and ended up making it worse and throwing her straight into a bad subject.

He was definitely terrible at social conversations.

He punched people, not talk to them...

\- "How did you notice?" - Raven grunted after a long minute of silence - "I use very little because it is a strong smell... And I don't want it to end quickly... I don't know if I can find another bottle... I thought it was... almost imperceptible..."

\- "Ahnnn" - This smell haunts me since we first kissed - "I... I'm good with... Smells..." - Wait, what? - "And it's... A peculiar smell... No one uses anything specifically lavender in this school..."

\- "Ah..."

\- "It's not like I have this smell stuck in my head even when I go to sleep..." - _Fuck.... thought out loud_

\- "I.... I know?"

\- "Of course you know..." - Damian arched an eyebrow and looked at Raven out of the corner of her eye, she had a mischievous smile threatening to take over her face - "What I mean is... It's an unusual smell... And I felt when we... You know... At Tim's party... Me and you..."

\- "l-let's not remember that..."

\- "Whatever..." - Damian muttered rolling his eyes - "Anyway... Just wanted to confirm and not feel crazy about smelling lavender every time you're near..."

\- "Of course..."

\- "Just, mere curiosity..."

\- "I understand..."

\- "Hm..." - Damian drummed his fingers on his knee without looking at her for a while. He really didn't know how to compliment people. It always came out too formal, too weird, too polite.

He had never cared about it, had been raised to be a prince and that was the way he should be, polite and formal. But being a teenager in America was weird and he was trying to fit in and make true friends for the first time in all these years. 

It wasn't funny when he said something like "You're unique" and the person laughed... Damian even thought about take _classes of how talking with teenagers_ with the help of his brothers, but gave up when Jason opened his mouth... Of 10 words Jason spoke, 11 were "fuck" and their derivations...

But he was trying to learn, because of his strange new friends, because of his unexpected new friendship... He was willing to learn a lot about being a teenager in America to maintain that friendship.

Raven was this friendship, a friend who didn't come close because of the name he carried or the dollar signs he had on his bank account... Their friendship was still very new, a thin layer of understanding that had settled after a bad moment, bandages and band-aids and quiet hours drinking tea, and lively conversations about music bands... It was something new and interesting to him, and he was still learning...

And in the midst of it all had that damn warmth on his chest, sweat on his palms, the almost uncontrollable urge to touch her, to feel his fingers glide over her soft skin as he felt every taste she could have on the tip of his tongue.

Damian took a deep breath, starting to feel that whirlwind all happening inside him again. It was as if he was sick and being around Raven was the cause.

It was as if he felt almost feverish...

\- "We have class..." - Raven muttered softly, almost inaudible, without looking at him - "Advanced English with Kory... And you?"

\- "Hmm..." - Damian blinked a few times licking his lower lip - "Extra curricular class..."

\- "Oh... I totally forgot about that shit..." - Raven snorted

\- Well ... The school needs a good nurse..."

\- "Am I a good nurse? - Raven grunted laughing, head bowed, looking at him. Damian didn't look back, but he had a smile playing around the corner of his face.

\- "You make a good bandage, my recovery was faster than expected... Alfred believes you're a kind of miraculous angel now..." - Damian rolled his eyes before seeing her looking up at him with a smile on her face.

It was good to see her so light again...

It was good to see her smiling again....

\- "What, Raven?"

\- "Did you really say I'm a good nurse?"

\- "It's not a big deal... I can recognize someone's talent..."

\- "Are you complimenting me twice in a row?"

\- "Hmmm.... Maybe?"

\- "Who are you?"

\- "Damian...?¿" - He grunted, smiling and Raven was mesmerized by the sound. In those moments, she would forget that voice whispering in her head.

That damn voice that made her feel weird and scared.

\- "No... You're not Damian..."

\- "Moron..."

\- "Okay, there you are..."

\- "I was trying to be... kind..."

\- "You are known for many things, but not for being a kind guy... But, you're cool!"

\- "Now I'm cool?"

\- "You're cool... But you're an asshole..."

\- "I've been trying hard..."

\- "Not to be an asshole? I know...." - She laughed - "Anyway... I'm going to class... I don't want rumors around me again.... No rumors with you..."

\- "I could skip the extra class... But I have nothing better to do..."

\- "Damian, do you always skip classes and want to tell me you don't break rules?"

\- "I already learned all this... I'm in this school just because my father made me be... This teaching is bullshit..."

\- "Hmm..." - Raven rolled her eyes and put the headset in her pocket - "You talk with so much mystery about where you came from... It's like it's a secret... Another life you want to leave behind..."

Damian took a deep breath looking at the sunny field in front of him, some students coming out of the locker rooms for the first class.

He didn't want to talk about his life before Gotham, his life with his mother...

No, that was something he wanted to keep under a rock and never remember... His grandfather was dead, his mother was dead... It was over, that life was over...

He was a Wayne now... And just that..."

\- "Because it's a life I left behind..." - He bit the inside of his mouth - "And it's none of your business..."

\- "Yeah, time to go to class..." - Raven clapped her thighs and stood up. - "You're back to the usual asshole ass you are...."

\- "N-no ... Wait..." - Damian took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose - "I'm... I'm sorry, okay...? I... I don't... I don't like to talk about my past... It's just this..."

\- "Mmmm..." - Raven took a deep breath crossing her arms and looking at him for long minutes.

She could feel the sincerity from yards away, she knew he was trying... But he was hard-headed and hard to deal with most of the time, and she couldn't help being annoyed with him.

From the penthouse day, where they had an honest conversation (and almost kissed, Raven still had goose bumps when she remembered that), she knew he was trying hard and trying his best not to be a bastard with others, especially with her.

He tried not to be rude to her friends, tried not to kill Garfield because of the stupid jokes he made, and not to speak rudely to Raven when they were in class.

And in that, Raven found herself bonding with him. Not yet strong, but... _Growing_...

They were more equal than she had imagined... And she could feel something of him, it was strange because it was as if she were invaded by strange feelings and she didn't even know why this was happening.

And Raven would never admit it, but she liked his company to read or study or just sit in the stands and talk about Mucuos Membrane or any other band introduced to him.

Raven found herself spending more time with him than she ever imagined.

Raven found herself watching him more than she wanted to admit. She was watching him now, seeing herself in the reflection of those green emeralds he had in his eyes, the small scars he had on his face, the scar in his eyebrow now fully healed and a slight rosy hue.

Raven found herself controlling not to touch them a thousand times, she caught herself controlling not to do it now.

\- "I.... I need to go..."

\- "Mmm... Okay..." - He raised an eyebrow and bit his lower lip. Raven felt her cheeks flush and warm with a simple action. 

He caused it on her.

Raven shook her head and turned her back

\- "Hmmm... Raven..."

\- "Hmm?" - Raven grunted, turning on her heel to look at him again.

Damian took a deep breath, wondering how to invite Raven to the stupid weekend ball in Gotham. He was supposed to attend, it was one of those socials that his father made him attend to... Keep up Gotham's playboy appearance.

Damian hated these parties, especially since he was pushed to every girl his own age and single, they clung to him like bubble gum until he decided to retire to his own room. With phone numbers marked with lipsticks and perfumes in his pocket, which he always threw in the trash.

But that year, he would be forced to take a company.

Either he would take one of his choice, or his father would find someone to keep him company with. Damian spent a whole weekend thinking about how to get rid of it, until he remembered that Mari'i had told him to call Raven.

Damian spent his days getting ready and making himself believe that there was nothing much in calling her to a stupid boring and rich ball in Gotham. It was just so that he didn't have to go with some stupid girl who would at all costs try to kiss him or take her to his room.

But now, looking at her, everything seemed.... Too much...

\- "I... I wanted to ask you something before you left..."

\- "What?"

_Come on, Damian... It's not like you're calling her on a date... It's just a stupid ball...._

_And she will have to stay at your place..._  
And will wear a beautiful dress  
And you'll probably find her the prettiest girl at the party  
And it will probably feel like your brain is melting, like now.... Wait, what? 

\- "Can we..." - His voice was an octave higher, Damian closed his mouth and took a deep breath. Damn puberty - "You... Could you.... Could you.... sit with me at dinner?"

_Coward_

_What kind of Al Ghul are you?_

Raven raised an eyebrow at him, the way she did when she tried to figure something out, as if trying to see into his soul.

Damian swallowed, trying not to show what was going on inside him until she shrugged.

\- "Hmm... Okay..."

\- "Great..."

\- "I'll warn the boys..." - She smiled - "See you later, Damian... And remember... Don't be an asshole with the others..." - she grumbled away from him.

\- "See you later, Raven..." - He huffed angrily at himself... Since when was he afraid to say anything?

Since when was he afraid of someone's rejection? Mostly hers?

He rolled his eyes admitting to himself that she made him different than he was, and he was still deciding if this was good or bad.

Damian watched her walk away from him, bouncing between the chairs waving at him before turning toward the gate and walking toward the classrooms.

Her position changed completely as she passed a group of boys on the baseball team.

Raven still had marks, and her fears were still present for much of her day. He could see them there trying to close her, but for some kind of strange link between them, Raven trusted him and Tim and Garfield, but things got weird when it came to other boys. She had something going on internally with her, he just didn't understand what.

Damian knew it would take time for those wounds, fears and whatever was happening to her to heal, but he was glad for the first time in his life to have someone's confidence and to do that person well.

Even if this was Raven, the girl he'd fought with every day for the past two years, and months before, she was the most unbearable person in the universe.

And that now made him feel strange things and wills that he never felt with anyone.

Damian took a deep breath and stood up, deciding that it made no sense to skip class if it was to be alone cooking in the sun while watching a class train baseball.

Maybe fencing would help him focus again and think about how to invite Raven to that stupid ball.

\- "You're late, bird boy" - a voice echoed right behind him as he walked out of the locker room.

_ **Emiko Queen** _

Sister of a Star City millionaire, Oliver Queen. Damian had known Emiko for a while, especially at the Wayne and Queen parties. The tabloids loved to say that they were the perfect match. And maybe they would be if Damian cared what tabloids and gossip columns said. They were good party mates, one of the few people Damian could talk to quietly, but who, because of a fight with the crazy girl who was chasing Damian, didn't evolve into anything more than "being classmates"

Damian took a deep breath and stopped walking.

\- "Worried about my delays, Queen?"

\- "Not even in your dreams, Wayne..." - She mumbled with a mischievous smile on her lips - "But... The teacher didn't want to start class before the exemplary student and best swordsman arrived..."

\- "Hey, you two..." - Rose muttered across the sports court - "Mark your fuck later... I want to do the class today..."

\- "Shut up, Wilson!"

\- "Okay... Ah... wonder boy... Did you saw Raven, today?"

\- "She went to class..." - Damian muttered rolling his eyes as he walked over to Rose whirling his saber in his hand.

\- "Are you and Raven friends now?" - Emiko grunted, training with the boy next to Damian and Rose.

\- "If you only knew what I know... I wouldn't say they're just friends..." - Rose muttered under her breath and Damian grunted. Rose was terrible at storing things, she never let things go...

She was going to end up telling about the kisses and about the times Raven went to Damian's apartment... Of course, she would make matters worse by putting some sexual connotation into it.

Emiko stopped moving and turned to Damian. The other boy just took the break to score, but was pushed away.

\- "What?"

\- "Didn't you know?" - Rose whispered - "He and Raven have a kind of hate that turns into love... And don't look at me with that face, prodigy boy... You have kissed and you drooling for her, just don't want to admit to yourself..."

\- "Rose......"

Emiko opened her mouth and tried to say something, but things just didn't come to her mouth, her as if she had lost her voice, or the ability to say something.

Damian started to be bothered by her look and then she just threw the helmet on the floor and just walked out, leaving everyone in the gym looking at it without understanding.

Damian didn't even believe the school rumors that Emiko had a crush on him, they knew each other from outside the school and she never showed anything that lit the red alarm in his head.

Not until that moment

\- "Ops..."

\- "You had to have a tongue that doesn't fit in your mouth, did you, Wilson?"

\- "How likely is Raven to kill me?"

\- "Many... I hope Queen doesn't spread what you said to the rest of the school..."

\- "Oh..." - Rose raised her hand and put it in her eyes - "Rae will kill me..."

\- "I hope she really does this... I'll help her hide your body with pleasure..." - Damian muttered throwing things to the floor.

\- "Hey, where are you going?"

\- "Fix what you did before it gets bigger..."

\- "Damian, Rose, what's going on?"

\- "Emiko... She felt bad, sir... Woman thing..." - Rose muttered - "I think... Or maybe it was lunch..."

\- "Mr. Arthur, I would like permission to go after her..." - The teacher looked at Damian for a few seconds before opening his mouth.

\- "If it's a female problem, Miss Wilson should go..."

\- "It's not that kind of problem" - Rose mumbled rolling her eyes - "She's not having period problems... It's just another girl problem..."

\- "She... It would only make things worse..." - Damian growled - "I can find her and take her to the ward, if necessary, sir... I'll be back soon after..."

\- "Hmm..." - The teacher punctuated mentally and then shrugged - "You have already missed half of class with your delay and this is inadmissible, Mr. Wayne... But also, is an exceptional student... I think I can open this exception for you for today..."

\- "Thank you, Mr. Arthur..." - Damian grumbled already leaving the gym, without looking at Rose screaming in the background so that he wouldn't let Raven know what she had said.

Damian walked around looking for Emiko, almost unsuccessfully. She was good at hiding, Damian had no doubt about that, but he was surprised at how she managed to hide so quickly.

But he was trained to find even the damn needle in the haystack if he had to... And he found her 15 minutes after he left the gym

Damian found her under the stands, a cigarette in her hand, and a song playing on her cell phone speaker. Damian knew the song, Raven had shown him the second time she went to visit him on the penthouse... It had a catchy beat, one that makes you want to dance strangely around the room and talked about feeling good about someone else to the point of feeling high and not wanting to come down

Damian remembered sleeping listening to her for 3 days.

It was Raven's favorite non-Mucous-Membrane song and he knew it from the excitement she went to show him.

\- "I didn't know you liked punk rock, Queen... I always thought you were more of a grunge or emo vibe"

\- "What are you doing here?"

\- "Looking for you..."

\- "Well, I didn't want to be bothered... That's why I came here... I needed to think..."

\- "Queen" - Damian took a deep breath with his eyes closed, feeling the air coming out slowly - "Emiko... I came to talk to you... I think... We need... - He grunted - "We are... _Friends_... I think... And I wasn't... Sincere..."

\- "Friends? For God's sake, Damian... You have no friends..." - She laughed

\- "Well, you were the only person I trusted in this place, until then..."

\- "What about Raven?"

\- "She... She too... - Damian didn't want to look at her

\- "You will leave?"

\- "Only if you want..." - Damian crossed his arms - "And you shouldn't have a cigarette... You're underage... And this is not good for health..."

\- "Oh fuck me..." - she mumbled rolling her eyes. - "You talk like everything in this school didn't do anything against the laws... And since when do you care about my health?"

\- "That doesn't change the factor you're underage..." - Damian snorted - And I'm just being responsible here... It's not like I really care about you..."

\- "What are you going to do? Arrest me, boy wonder?" - she clasped her hands and pointed at him, as if expecting him to remove a handcuff from somewhere

\- "Where did you get a cigarette?" - Damian grumbled sitting beside her

\- "It's not hard to get it here... Like it's not hard to get cocaine, weed, alcohol, LSD..."

\- "God..." - Damian scowled. - "How can you like being numb?"

\- "I don't know ... I don't smoke... I don't even use all this crap... But I needed.... to think"

\- "Do you need to think?"

\- "Yes..." - She propped her elbow on her knee before taking a silent drag. A long, cold silence between them.

\- "So... You and Raven... Are... together?"

\- "No..."

\- "Hmm..." - Emiko nodded slowly, extinguishing the cigarette butt on a rock near her - "What do you got then?"

\- "Nothing..." - Damian said so quickly that it felt like it was more to be convinced than answer Emiko - "I mean... Not as you think... Not romantically.... We are friends... Or we're trying to be... I think... Or we're just trying to have a truce..."

\- "Mm..." - She folded her arms without looking at him.

Damian didn't know how to handle situations like this, none of his training prepared him for it.

No, he'd dismissed girls before, this wasn't the first time. But there was something different this time, something he couldn't handle… The fact that he knew Emiko.

It was... Strange not to hurt someone... He didn't want to hurt the first one he felt good about at this school, even though they weren't the best friends in the universe... Damian would trust his life with Emiko, and he felt kinda shit for not realizing that maybe she felt more than a friend.

The silence between them grew uncomfortable and almost painful for long 10 minutes. All they could hear were the students' voices walking toward their classrooms and lively conversations in the gym.

\- "Have you ever fallen in love, Damian?" - Emiko grunted breaking the silent barrier between them and Damian mentally thanked her who had decided to break the silence

\- "Hm... I... I don't know..."

\- "You know..." - She took a deep breath - "No one is in doubt if you really like someone..."

\- "I... I honestly don't know... I'm not good with emotions and feelings..." - Damian felt the barriers falling between them, how many times they sat down and just talked at Gotham's useless balls.

\- "Good excuse..." - She nodded and gave a weak smile

\- "It's not an excuse..." - Damian snorted

\- "Are you in love lately?" - Damian took a deep breath and leaned his head against the beam, his eyes closed.

No, he was sure he wasn't. Love and romance were something he dared not think of feeling one day and he continued with that conviction.

But then, there was Raven...

She was always that... Question mark in him, she always made him feel things he couldn't describe and couldn't imagine wanting to feel. He didn't know what it was, but he always had this warmth in his chest and his sweaty hands and pathetic attitude...

\- "No ..." - he whispered, more to himself than to Emiko - "No, he didn't fall in love... Not who I should be and not what he should feel...

Not what he deserved to feel

\- "I don't want it..."

\- "Hmmm..." - Emiko raised her eyebrow and Damian felt himself being pulled into the cold silence between them again. - "You know these are things you don't control, right? You can't just tell yourself that you don't like someone... You can say as much as you want to yourself that you won't fall in love, but you will one day... We're human, not programmed machines..."

He was a programmed machine, since his first breath he had been programmed

\- "I was taught to control..." - Damian still grumbled with his eyes closed

\- "You'll someday find someone who kicks your ass... And makes you understand that sometimes things don't work out the way you want them to work..." - Damian opened his eyes and turned to her.

\- "And you?"

\- "Me what?"

\- "Have you ever fallen in love with anyone?" - She stared at him for a few seconds and then rolled her eyes.

\- "Of course!" - She laughed crookedly - "I'm a teenager, I have a lot of hormones running through my body..."

\- "And you... Are you in love lately?" - Damian felt bile rise in his throat. He didn't want to have this conversation ...

He still didn't want to hurt Emiko

\- "Unfortunately? Yes..."

\- "And have you tried telling that person before?"

\- "No..."

\- "Why? It doesn't... There's no way of knowing..."

\- "It's... complicated..." - she snorted

\- "Why?"

\- "Because I am invisible to her..." - She arched her eyebrow looking at him - "Because this person walks by my side every single day and doesn't see me there... I'm just another classmate..." - Damian swallowed - "Well, now this person will definitely not see me even if I stand by her side every damn day..." - Damian let out an air that did not expect to be holding - "It's... Complicated... Like someone who for whole two years, acted like you weren't there..."

\- "Hmmm..." - Damian took a deep breath - "This ... It's really complicated..."

\- "You can't imagine..."

\- "But maybe the person was just blind enough to notice... Sometimes it's hard to notice..."

\- "Yeah, it could be... And then I was stupid... Because clearly this person likes someone else now and is stupid enough to admit it"

\- "Why didn't you tell me before...?"

\- "Would it make any difference?"

\- "I don't know... Maybe I could try something..."

\- "Try something? Damian... How were you going to try anything?"

\- "I don't know, Emiko... I always saw you at parties... Maybe we could have tried... Before that became weird..."

\- "Wait, what?" - She scowled at him, her brows furrowed in confusion - "What are you talking about?"

\- "If you had spoken before you liked me I would have..."

\- "Liked you?" - She blinked twice and then started to laugh. Damian stared at her without understanding, had he missed something? 

\- "What....?"

\- "Did you think I was talking about you?"

\- "Well, I just connected the dots..." - He still felt confused by all her laughter - "You were always very close to me, more than anyone else in high school, always volunteering to do homework with me and now you just ran out of fencing class when Rose said too much... I just linked it all with the fact that I didn't notice any sign of you liking me and your talk about being invisible... It wasn't about me?"

\- "No..."

\- "But..."

\- "I don't like you, Damian ... Not romantically..." - She mumbled trying to catch her breath between laughs

\- "Oh..." - Damian looked ahead and then ran a hand over his face not knowing if he was relieved or offended.

\- "Nothing personal but definitely I wasn't talking about you..."

\- "And was it from a boy I know then?"

\- "No!" - She took a deep breath, both hands on her hips. - "I was talking about a girl ... By all the gods, Damian, I was talking about a girl! I thought it got to your ear that I like a girl because I literally screamed it at school...."

\- "Oh... Mm .. A girl..."

\- "Yeah..." 

Damian looked at her and then started to turn things on.

A girl...

\- "You were talking about..."

\- "I was talking about Raven!" - She almost shouted, as if shoving a weight off her back

\- "Oh oh"

\- "Look, I approached you because she always looked at you and I always volunteered to do homework with you because I wanted her to notice me... God, I wanted her so much to look at me the way she looks at you... I wanted so badly to be you at times so she would look at me with those sapphire blue eyes full of things to say..." - She rested her chin in her hand - "For God's sake, I went into a damn nursing class because I would have time with her without you... And you show up with a goddamn broken arm the first day..."

\- "So you are..."

\- "Bisexual? Yeah..." - She smiled - "People are gay, Damian..."

\- "I know!" - He answered not knowing whether to laugh or just stay there trying to digest everything - "I just... I was caught off guard..."

\- "Ollie doesn't know that yet, so... Mouth closed..." - She smiled - "And don't worry... I won't spread through the school what Rose said about you and Raven..."

\- "O-K..." - Damian was dizzy with the information, he swallowed - "Thanks..."

\- "So... Did you really kiss?"

\- "Hmm..." - Damian licked his lips, remembering every time he kissed Raven and now looked a long time ago, how her lips were soft and warm and with an indescribable taste of lavender and vanilla. Remembering how her arms fit his shoulder and how he wanted to have kissed her again in the penthouse, at school, in the bleachers of the sports court, against the school lockers, and almost everywhere they were alone and together.

\- "Never mind, your face already says everything..."

\- "My face says nothing... You are... Seeing things where there is..."

\- "Well... It doesn't matter too..." - She took a deep breath with a shrug - "I came to the conclusion that she will never look at me the way she looks at you... You even kissed... I don't have chances against you..."

\- "I don't know what you're talking about, Queen..."

\- "Of course you know... You're just too stupid to assume that with all the letters..." - She put her hand on his shoulder - "She likes you, Damian... Even if she says no, even if she deny with all her heart she will tell the truth in her eyes, how she likes at you... And I see through your eyes that it's reciprocal ...

\- "You don't know anything..." - Damian managed to grumble, pushing the shock to the back of his head - "You see no stupid sentimentality in anyone's eyes... This is stupid..."

\- "You're going to be denied until you see another guy and take her away..." - She shrugged. - "You're going to lose a nice girl because you don't know how to take on the things you're feeling..."

\- "We weren't talking about me..."

\- "We were talking about you thinking I was madly in love with you..." - She laughed. - "You really think all girls fall at your feet, don't you?"

\- "Not all of them..." - Damian muttered with a playful smile on the corner of his lips - "Not you... And not Raven..."

\- "She is cool..."

\- "Yeah, she is..." - He took a deep breath, the air coming heavy from his nostrils. Silence surrounded them again, but this time, lighter than before... They both leaned against the bleachers beam and stared straight ahead.

\- "We're two idiots, aren't we?"

\- "I'm not an idiot..."

\- "You're the biggest idiot of all, Damian..." - She laughed, leaning her head against his shoulder laughing, listening to the music play on her cell phone speaker.

The sound filled any missing words between them, it was cozy.

\- "This song is one of her favorites... Did you know?"

\- "I know..." - Emiko rolled her eyes - "She was listening the other day in the ward and I asked what it was..."

\- "She made me listen to all the bands she likes while I was home because of my broken rib..."

\- "For God's sake, spare me the melosity between you ..."

\- "I won't argue with you... I told you there's nothing going on between me and her..."

\- "You know you have... But I won't argue with you too..."

\- "Great..."

\- "Yeah..." - Damian laughed, staring straight ahead. He was still getting used to the information that Emiko had fallen in love with Raven and not him, but it felt good that they clarified things.

He felt that now Emiko was more than person he could trust little secrets, he knew she had trusted him with a secret she kept from everyone.

Damian was sure he would trust his life into Emiko's hands.

\- "I'm... Thinking of inviting her to the Christmas ball..."

\- "Oh really?"

\- "Don't look at me with that face..." - He rolled his eyes - "You know it's mandatory to have a pair... I could call you, but I don't know if you'll want to go with me..."

\- "No... No way... I've had enough of Djinn..."

\- "Why does everyone have to quote her when it comes to me?"

\- "Well, she's a weird stalker who chases any and all girls who approach you..." - Emiko had an arched eyebrow - "Take care of Raven, she's going to face hell with this girl... She's a nightmare..."

\- "She won't do anything with Raven..." - Damian rolled his eyes - "I won't let..." - Emiko laughed making Damian roll his eyes - "And she knows how to defend herself better than you think..."

\- "Do you already know how to invite Raven?"

\- "No..." - Damian felt his cheeks heat up remembering when he couldn't tell her... He felt so weak around her that he couldn't say what he wanted.

But Emiko didn't need to know that.

\- "And why not?"

\- "I didn't have the..."

\- "Courage? For God's sake Damian, just say 'would you go to the prom with me?'"

\- "It's not a prom, Emiko... I can't just ask her to go into the hell of being someone like me..."

\- "Chased by the media, hot paparazzi, night escapes to jump from building to building on weekends in Gotham... Yeah... She definitely doesn't need this..."

\- "HAHAHAHA very funny" - he rolled his eyes for the thousandth time - "Yes, she's going to live a hell with the media vultures, she doesn't need it now... And also, I've had an experience of calling her to a party and we ended up arguing in the middle of the corridor..."

\- "Oh, I remember that... Worst day of my life, probably..."

\- "Oh..." - Damian frowned looking at her - "Anyway, whatever... I don't... I don't know if she'll want this..."

\- "Well, you'll only know if you try..." - Emiko scowled - "Oh gods, I can't believe I'm giving advice for a guy to have a date with the girl I like..."

\- "I'm still trying to understand everything that happened here..." - Damian snorted - "I... I'll try to do it... Today at dinner... And it's not a date..."

\- "Good..." - She smiled - "Tell her to take a friend... I don't know ... So I don't be alone all night while the lovebirds date..."

\- "What lovebirds? Oh nevermind…" - Damian rolled his eyes and then looked at his watch. He had missed his first chemistry class and if he stayed a little longer, he would only see Raven at dinner. -" I need to go to class..."

\- "You're a sucker, right? I don't know how you got the bad fame... You can't even skip class..."

\- "Well, my father makes some threats involving Sweden and the Himalayas... I don't want to risk it... For a little, I wasn't studying with monks right now" - Emiko laughed out loud - "Anyway, will you be all right? I'm not always like this, I don't give a damn what people feel but, I just... I don't want you to be sad..."

\- "I'll be fine, boy wonder..."

\- "You insist in this nickname that was Grayson's nickname" - He rolled his eyes - "Hmmm... Anyway" - He stood up - "You know where to find me if you need to talk more..."

\- "You're the last person I would look for to talk about sentimentality but, okay, thanks..." - She laughed

\- "I wouldn't look for myself either..." - Damian smiled - "Well, I have to go... I can't miss the last chemistry schedule and..."

\- "Oh... Raven..."

\- "Shut up..."

\- "Look how cute your cheeks!" - She laughed out loud

\- "You're an idiot, Queen..."

\- "And you're a jerk, Wayne..." - She laughs - "Well, call her to the stupid ball... If you don't, I'll call her to go with me... And you'll have to call Djinn"

\- "Ew... Gross..." - Damian scowled. - "And I don't take your orders..."

\- "Ah you take... I'm prettier, older and smarter than you..."

\- "Your ego is sometimes bigger than Grayson's...."

\- "Yeah..." - She laughed - "And you like... We are, what did you say? Friends, isn't it?"

\- "I'm already regretting this..."

\- "No.... You're not." - She laughed, squeezing his cheek.

\- "Hey! Stop this...!" - He grunted, rubbing his palm on the pink cheek - "Anyway... Bye... I will not continue listening to your bullshit and I have to go to class..."

\- "Okay, pure boy..."

\- "Fuck you..." - Damian muttered, getting up and walking out of the stands, his head still spinning with all the information but he felt... Good...

\- "Hey Damian..." - Damian spun on his heel, looking at Emiko again - "If you act like an idiot and hurt her at some point, I'll end you..."

Damian rolled his eyes and just showed her his middle finger, moving away from where she had set up a refuge and mingling with the flock of students walking between him, ignoring some mellow _"hello, Wayne"_ he heard on the way to his locker.

He barely listened, his mind working at 200 a minute thinking about how to call Raven to ball without sounding like he was calling her for a date...

He didn't want to look like it was a date... or did he?

Would that be a date?

He didn't know what he wanted anymore, only that every time his eyes met Raven's oceanic blue, his heart seemed to lose its rhythm and beat. He would definitely look for Alfred later, he had to make sure he wasn't sick... So many times diving into the pit probably caused a heart problem.

Damian took a long shower that day, pondering every word he would say to Raven as he let the cold water fall on his shoulders.

The cold water helped to think correctly and focus on the goal... It helped calm the nerves... And other _things_... 

Remembering Raven's lips and how she melted into his hands the last time they kissed, in the library, tormented him the rest of the day and he felt things mess up in his head, heart and lower belly.

As he walked into the refectory, he found Raven leaning against the locker talking about something boring with Garfield, her expression and body manner saying she was already pissed off standing there, pissed off hearing Garfield and probably pissed off having to wait for Damian...

\- "Oh... Finally he showed up..." - She muttered under her breath

\- "I... I lost time in the shower..."

\- "Pour me the details, Damian..." - She rolled her eyes, her nose wrinkling. Damian held back a giggle, she looked like a child rejecting vegetables when she did that.

\- "As if I were going to say some detail... It's not relevant..."

\- "Sure... - She rolled her eyes - "The afternoon with Emiko was very productive, you're even in a good mood..."

\- "I didn't understand what you meant, Roth..."

\- "I didn't mean anything, Wayne..." - She really looked annoyed now.

\- "I can see a good sarcasm from afar..."

\- "Or, you have a conscience too stuck to think that everything is about something..."

\- "Are you jealous of Queen?"

\- "Jealous? Don't fuck me, Damian..."

\- "Hmmm...... If you two have already finished your little jealous couple discussion here, can we go to the refectory?" - Garfield grunted, his shoulders hunched as he pointed with his finger. - "I kind of plan on having dinner tonight yet..."

\- "Go on, Logan..." - Damian said, his tone dry, almost cutting, without taking his green eyes from Raven's blue ones... It was amazing how she had the power to turn his emotions on and off. - "I need... Chat a subject with Roth..."

\- "Sure..." - Garfield smiled, putting his arm around Raven's shoulder.

\- "You are talking..." - Raven grunted, arms crossed as she leaned her shoulder against the closet

\- "Alone..." - Damian growled through his teeth. That was enough for Garfield to take a few steps back, an arched brow alert.

Damian wasn't known for his kindness, a low voice and a gnashing of teeth was a warning big enough for anyone.

\- "Rae... If you want I can stay here..."

\- "You can go," - Raven muttered, in her usual tone, very calm to someone who was facing a boy like Damian.

\- "Hmm... Are you sure?" - Raven nodded slowly, still looking at Damian.

It was in those moments that Damian felt his heart skipping a beat, Raven was so different from the other girls, so confident in herself that she didn't even blink at Damian's menacing gaze.

Garfield just swallowed hard and turned, walking toward the refectory, leaving only Raven and Damian in the locker-filled hallway.

\- "Mm... What did you have to tell me..."

\- "You're angry..."

\- "No, I'm not..."

\- "It wasn't a question, it was a contestation..." - Damian crossed his arms and leaned against one of the lockers facing Raven - "I can feel your anger from here... This anger wasn't here when you left the stands..."

\- "You annoy me easily..."

\- "So what did I do?" - Damian arched an eyebrow. Raven took a deep breath and stared at him for a few seconds and then shook her head.

\- "Nothing..." - She rolled her eyes - "Sorry.... I... I have a lot on my mind... And I think I have something, my mood swings are killing me..."

\- "Are you on... How Cassandra said? Ah! PMS?" - He asked frowning. Raven opened her mouth looking at him and then closed again and then closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.

\- "Damian... Don't assume this just because a woman is nervous... Never..."

\- "But..."

\- "Never, heard?" - She took a deep breath - "It just makes things worse.... And I'm not on PMS... Not that it's any of your business..."

\- "Ahnn..." - He still had a raised eyebrow - "Okay..."

\- "Anyway... I don't know what happened... What you and Emiko do is definitely none of my business..."

\- "I have nothing with her..."

\- "Well, you skipped class together under the bleachers... Everyone knows what that is used for..."

\- "For what?" - He replied, a little innocence - "No matter... I don't want to talk about it..." - He took a deep breath - "I can guarantee that between me and Emiko has nothing... We definitely have nothing..."

\- "You _'can guarantee'_ it?" - Raven looked at him, her eyes behind long black lashes.

\- "Not as you imagine... She confided in me a secret... She likes a girl... And you should know since she screamed at school..."

\- "Oh..." - She smiled - "So she likes a girl and dumped you?"

\- "Why is this so important to you, Roth?"

\- "Nothing... It's fun to see you nervous..."

\- "Ah fuck you." - Damian rolled his eyes.

\- "Okay, okay... What did you have to tell me so important...?"

\- "Mm.... Well..." - Damian felt his throat close again and the nervousness completely take over him. He swallowed and shoved down and then straightened, placing his hands in his pants pocket to hide that they were sweaty and threatening to shiver.

He knew very well how she had reacted the last time he called her to a party. It was the first time he had seen her face so closely, noted all the shades of lilac mixed with the blue of her eyes, like a sapphire with traces of amethyst... They were beautiful, very beautiful eyes...

He already felt breathless seeing her gaze from afar, but that day, it was as if he were drowning in an ocean that even Poseidon couldn't control.

The same ocean threatened to turn against him now.

\- "You know that my father every year promotes a benevolent ball to raise funds for projects sponsored by Wayne Enterprises..."

\- "I've heard about..."

\- "Well... It will happen this weekend..."

\- "Hmm" - Raven grumbled looking at him again, he was calm, but there was a certain urgency in how he looked at her, as if he wanted to say something but didn't know how.

\- "I.... I thought...." - He grunted - "That maybe..."

\- "You thought? That explains the smell of burning..."

\- "Hahaha, stupid" - Damian rolled his eyes - "Anyway... I wonder if... You're free..." - Raven saw him close his eyes and open again and then, he take a deep breath, things escaping his hands. Raven knew she was sensitive to what others felt... It was like a strange sixth sense.

But wow, there she had the feeling she could touch his nervousness, fear, rejection and shame....

She just didn't know why.

\- "Damian" - She wrinkled her nose, feeling almost flooded and so much that he felt - "For God's sake, say it... It looks like you're dying this way..."

Damian took a deep breath, letting the air out slowly before dumping it all at once. There was no other way, he needed to invite her and take it like removing a band aid from a bruise... Pull and you won't feel the pain torturing you... It will be all at once...

\- "I need to take a ball mate..." - He blurted out, still trying to breathe slowly - "I don't trust anyone here as I trust you... Maybe Emiko, but she already has her company... And I wouldn't take her ... No... She would laugh at my face all the time... I know you don't like it, last time you had an outbreak... It's just that I have no other salvation..."

\- "Damian, you're going round and round again..."

\- "Ahnnn... Okay... There's no way to say that without being like a band aid stuck to a bruise... And it's sounding stupid... I really don't know how to say this a softer way... I trust you, only you... You're a beautiful, unique, cool girl and I like to be with you ... It's a girl I would want to be with me at a stupid party…" - Damian opened his eyes, meeting Raven's eyes, curious, eager, bright as the stars in the dark night. Damian forgot how to breathe for a few seconds... What the hell was going on with him? He took a little breath and walked over to Raven, holding both of her hands. - "Raven... Do you acept to be my pair at the annual Wayne Corporate Christmas Ball and go to Gotham with me and spend two days at the stupid Wayne Mansion and have to endure my stupid brothers on the weekend?? I..." - He took a deep breath - "You are the only person in this hell that I want to be my mate at this stupid ball..."

Raven opened her mouth, a large _**O**_ formed and then closed again, looked in shock at him and then opened her mouth again.

\- "_Ohmygosh_... What?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of Stranger Things reference because, why not¿?


	15. Chapter 15

Raven took a deep breath as the huge iron gate opened through the car window, stifling a growl that threatened to rise in her throat. It was stupid for her to be there, it was stupid for her to have agreed to go to that ball, it was stupid for her not to be able to say _**no**_ when Damian wore that doggy look that fell from the moving path with her.

\- "Miss Raven ... Is everything all right?" - Alfred's voice pulled her from her world of regrets. She'd been quiet most of the time since getting off the plane, thinking of ways to kill Damian slowly.

She had agreed to go to the stupid Wayne family charity ball with him, and he apparently understood _"let me show you that I'm a stupid billionaire_. Probably she wouldn't be the gossip just at school from now on, but all over the country.

First, a Wayne car parked outside her house ready to take her to the airport. She'd be okay with a ride, if it wasn't for a luxury car with security guards and a damn _W_ drawn on the side. 

Of course it caught the eyes of all her neighbors.

Then she thought she would travel smoothly on a normal plane, just like any normal person, until she came across a jet waiting for her. An empty private jet just waiting for her, with a damn red carpet on the stairs. At this point, Raven wanted to freak out and just tell Damian she wouldn't go anymore. Why did he have to be extremely rich and annoying?

She hated flying, it was something that made her sick and dizzy and so she avoided as much as possible getting into one of those things, but as a trip by car or bus would take 3 days and Damian left to invite her in 45 seconds, when the damn Christmas ball was just under two days away, then Raven had to swallow the dread and just get into it.

5 hours 21 minutes later she was landing in Gotham, annoyed that she had to fly, tired from jet lag, sick and dizzy from noticing the glances behind her as she got into another luxury car with the Wayne symbol.

The only thing that made her feel calm about all this was the sight of Alfred's smile as he held a sign reading _"Raven Roth"_.

\- "Hm?"

\- "Are you feeling well? Forgive my intrusion, but you've been silent since you got in the car..."

\- "I'm just... Tired..." - Raven grumbled - "I don't get along with plane travel, they make me sick..."

\- "We're already arriving at the mansion..." - The man grunted with a smile - "A bath and hot tea will make you feel better..."

\- "Thanks..."

\- "I assume you haven't brought a proper ball outfit, correct?"

\- "Hmm..." - Raven bit her lower lip and scratched her head. She had a dress she found at the back of the wardrobe. She just couldn't tell if the dress was appropriate for this party.

Of course her Aunt Alice had insisted she buy a dress for the party and of course Rose, Tara and Garfield insisted that she buy something expensive for the occasion, but Raven immediately aborted the idea. Jumping from store to store with Rose talking about low-cut dresses and her sexually comments about just made Raven want to throw up.

\- "I assumed Master Damian invited you very hastily. He should have called you months earlier so that you had time to provide a suitable dress for the occasion. So I hope you forgive my boldness right now... Your dress is in the box next to you..."

\- "Alfred, I... I can't accept..."

\- "Not only can but should..."

\- "Damian has already spent a lot of money on me... I could have come by plane like a normal person, have taken a taxi like a normal person... I don't need Damian to buy my clothes too..."

\- "Master Damian has nothing to do with the dress, Miss..."

\- "No..."

\- "Uh..."

\- "I decided to buy for you..." - He said quietly

\- "Alfred..."

\- "I hope I didn't miss the measurements..." - Raven swallowed and looked at the white box deposited beside her on the car seat she had noticed now. - "The shoes are in the bag, your height is almost the same as miss Cassandra, I hope you didn't got it wrong."

\- "Oh... Alfred..." - Raven was nervous again, looking at things next to her. - "I don't know what to say except thanks and... No need.... I... I brought a dress that I had, not the perfect princess dress but..."

\- "Accept... Just take this as a thank you gift... Or a gift from a distant grandfather... It will be an honor to see you stunning in that dress tonight... It matches your eyes..."

\- _"Thank you gift?"_

\- "Yes... Because you agreed to be friends with Master Damian... He is not very easy to deal with, usually more isolated than his other brothers..."

\- "Ah..." - Raven nodded slowly, unsure how to continue the conversation. Raven didn't want to say anything stupid, like she was doing it out of pity or something worthy of a reward.

She was doing it because Damian had convinced her to do it, saying that sweet moment when all she did was be a cold bitch with him. 

She had accepted because of those damn green eyes. _Wait, what?_

\- "Master Damian is a... _Interesting_... Friend, if you may say so..."

\- "Ahnn... I don't know if I could say interesting, Alfred." - She smiled crookedly. - "We don't have a long time friendship, as you may know..."

\- "Yes, I know..." - Alfred smiled - "Master Damian is, unlike his brothers, more like Master Bruce... Reclusive and hardly likes to socialize, and has serious trust issues..."

Raven scowled. She knew Damian's father a little in person, because that time in the hospital, but she read newspapers and magazines and she knew that the playboy millionaire Bruce Wayne was anything but antisocial and reclusive.

\- Ahnn ... Is Mr. Wayne a recluse? I ... I always saw him otherwise ...

\- "Ahnnn..." - Alfred glanced quickly at Raven in the rearview mirror and then looked forward again. - "Of course..." - He took a deep breath and Raven noticed that there were layers of secrets there that she wasn't allowed to touch. How many secrets could a family keep? - "But being honest, Miss Raven?" - Raven nodded slowly - "It may not seem, but it is as sensitive and needy as his brothers... He had a childhood at least complicated, raised elsewhere, with another culture and other customs... He is still learning to adapt and he may not be good at approaching and showing that he deeply appreciates someone's company." - He glanced at Raven again. - "But I can tell he likes your presence, he was very excited about you coming to Gotham... I think he appreciates you so much... I've never seen him so excited and nervous at the same time..."

\- "Ahnnn... We... We found out we have a lot more in common than we thought..." - Raven tucked a strand behind her ear. - "So... We've been trying to keep the white flag raised between us ever since..."

\- "That gladly my heart, Miss Raven..." - Alfred smiled - "You appeared as an angel in this family, if you allow me to say so... And is welcome whenever you want... A friend of Damian is someone welcome in this house..." - Raven smiled, letting her anger subside at Alfred's sweet voice. He was a good man, conveying a peace she hadn't felt in a long time.

\- "Thank you, Alfred..." - Raven muttered under her breath - "It's... Good... Listen to this..."

\- "You're welcome, Miss..." 

\- "Raven... Just call me Raven..." - Raven smiled

\- "As you wish, M-Raven" - He smiled and stopped the car. Raven looked out the window to find a manor she had never seen before. Raven didn't know Damian lived in a castle... Because it literally looked like a castle.

The bricks were gray, like Gotham all over. And there were windows everywhere, huge windows everywhere, Raven didn't even know a house could have so many windows. It was an old building and very, very beautiful.

Alfred got out of the car and went to open the door for Raven to get out and she had to remind herself that she needed to get out. She was too impressed to reason that she just couldn't spend the entire weekend in a car staring at those walls.

\- "I can tell you she's much more interesting inside, Miss Raven..." Alfred grumbled, holding her hand as she got out of the car.

\- "It's a beautiful house, Alfred..." - Raven managed to say after looking up for the thousandth time. - "I thought Wayne Manor was beautiful, but this? It's a _fucking_ castle! Why didn't he tell me he lives in a damn castle? Fuck you Damian _Imarichboy_ Wayne!" - Alfred smiled looking at her and Raven looked at Alfred with her hands over her mouth - "I'm sorry I... I said without thinking... I didn't want to say a bad word... Came without me thinking" - Alfred smiled and just nodded.

He liked that young woman, only someone so good, hard-headed and with a touch of purity in her eyes could tame Damian's heart... He just hoped Damian wouldn't take long to notice it.

\- "Come on, let's accommodate you... You must be tired..."

Raven blinked a few times and nodded slowly, looking back at the huge dark door in front of her. Suddenly all the nervousness that had left her as she looked at the mansion decided to go back and she began to think of everything that would come, find Damian, spend a weekend in that house with a lot of people she didn't know, dress a dressed she didn't know what it was like, going to a millionaire party and sure having to deal with paparazzi... Was she ready for that? She really didn't know.

Alfred led Raven inside and she couldn't help but be surprised by the house, there was a rush of flower arrangements and party stuff being prepared in the mansion's huge foyer, but Raven couldn't keep her mouth shut every time. Every detail of the house surprised her even more than the other, every painting, every sculpture, every little thing.

It was as if she saw an exhibit without having to go to the museum, the Wayne family was apparently a big fan of the arts, which explained why Damian was still an excellent student of art in high school.

\- "Where is everyone?"

\- "They should be here to greet you but I think they had to help Master Bruce with something in the family business" - Alfred frowned, walking alongside Raven carrying the dreaded white box where the dress was, while Raven carried her small backpack and bag with such a shoe that she should use - "Master Damian was looking forward to your arrival..."

\- "Ahnn... They must... be really busy," - Raven grunted, biting the corner of her mouth, feeling heat rise up her cheeks.

\- "Well, then, I'll take you to your bedroom, so you can rest a little and settle down... If you feel hungry, I'll be happy to prepare a snack for you when you wish..." - Alfred signaled for her climb with him toward the stairs, out of the mess of flowers and tables that were coming. The ball would be at ten o'clock, as Damian had told her, she had a little over 10 hours to heal that damn jet lag she felt.

Alfred led her to a huge dark wooden door that was almost insulated from the rest of the other doors in a wing away from the noise coming from the ballroom storage, at the end of a corridor that had windows overlooking a huge garden. As Alfred opened the room, Raven stared out the window, losing sight of how far that garden could end.

And she felt she could get lost if she dared to walk around alone.

Alfred invited her into the room and rest and Raven thanked him for the peace she could have, he explained where she could put her things, showed her where the bathroom was and an alternative way she could use to go to the kitchen if she felt hungry without having to go through the mess of things getting to the final details.

When Alfred left Raven alone, she threw herself on the bed leaving her eyes closed for a few seconds, the bed was extremely comfortable and too big for her... She felt she could spread herself out and still have room to roll over. Raven even considered taking a little nap, but that flight sickness was still there, and she had a feeling that if she slept with a messy, empty stomach she would wake up worse.

Raven took a deep breath and decided to unpack her clothes and look for some pill to solve that damn bad feeling she had when the white box caught her eye. Had Alfred really chosen a dress for her? She didn't know if she believed that, Damian might as well have bought it and told Alfred to say it was him, just like he did with the hospital bill... Raven took a deep breath and just kept the box on top of a dresser...

She would worry about that later when she really had to put on that shit.

After storing her things, circling the room, spying on the box, staring out the window for a relatively long time, and throwing herself back on the bed with headphones, Raven listened to lively conversations from the hallway. They were girl voices, it was probably someone from Damian's family she didn't know yet so Raven took a deep breath and decided to leave that room... Maybe everyone had arrived, maybe Damian could be there to hear all her complaints about him being annoyingly rich.

And a snack wouldn't go wrong now, a couple of hours in that room soothed her stomach.

Raven followed the path Alfred carefully taught her, past a huge conference room, a huge fireplace with a painting of a child and two adults (she thought it was Mr. and Mrs. Wayne... Damian's paternal grandparents who had died when Damian's father was still a child), some pictures of the boys scattered along the way. It was a really big family, she knew Damian had a lot of brothers, but there? There were 7 children...

_Fucking 7 children..._

The noise of voices grew louder as she approached what should be the kitchen, she could see laughter, threats and profanity being suppressed by Alfred's calm and firm voice ... It all stopped slowly as she stopped at the door.

Raven didn't like being the center of attention ... But apparently it was impossible not to be when it came to that mess of voices that was on the huge bench.

\- "Ahnnn... Hi..." - She grunted, tucking her hair nervously behind her ear, praying mentally that they would simply go back to whatever the table discussion was.

But in fact, she got more glances, a few whispers and everything getting a little worse when Damian stood alone at the table crashing into everything, pushing the table and making a squeaky noise with the seat being dragged, snatching muffled giggles from Tim and Dick and a loud laugh from Jason.

\- "Raven...! Y-You're here! I... I didn't know you were already here... Uhnn... Hi!"

\- "And Romeo attacks again..."

\- "Damian is a Romeo? What are y'all talking about?!"

\- "Look at the new bird in the nest..."

\- "Shut up Todd..." - Damian muttered, his cheeks turning a faint pink tone

\- "Oh! Hi Rae..."

\- "Hi guys..." - Raven grunted waving shyly - "Hmm, hi Damian... Eh... I arrived a couple of hours ago..."

\- "Did I miss something?" - Another boy muttered with a mouthful of half a slice of cake.

\- "Is she the girl Dami said so much?" - A blond-haired girl whispered to another dark-haired girl who just shrugged

\- "Exactly..." - Jason grunted with a smile. - "It's just her... The famous school friend that he wants to impress and make out at the ball..." 

\- "What...?" 

\- "Oh... Your taste is not so bad, Dami... She is so cute and beautiful and looks at that skin! Hey, baby girl, you will have to tell me your skin care routine...!"

Raven shrugged, wishing from the bottom of her heart that the ground would open and swallow her. Damian scratched his throat, scolding his brothers with a hard look as he pulled back his chair and sat down again, muttering words Raven didn't understand.

\- "For God's sake guys, be polite..." - a girl with fiery hair and freckles on her cheeks grunted, watching Raven cringing and got up and walked over to her. - "This way she'll think you were raised in a sty and not a mansion..."

\- "Relax, Babs... If she hasn't run from the little shit so far, she can handle a weekend with us... And Rae knows we're kidding. We've met her at Bruce's Penthouse in San Francisco."

\- "That doesn't mean you have to act like gorillas..."

\- "Guys, can someone please explain to me what's going on? Who is the girl?"

\- "Damian's crush, Duke..."

\- "Oh..." - The boy looked at Damian and then at Raven and then at Damian again.

\- "Jason Todd I'll kill you..."

And then the next thing Raven saw was Damian almost coming up on the table to hit Jason and being holding Dick. Raven opened her mouth to say something but just couldn't, 5 minutes there and she felt she could lose her sanity at any moment.

\- "Boys..." - the blonde girl mumbled rolling her eyes

\- "Silence!!" - The red-haired girl's voice was heard through the screams and again all the pairs of eyes in place turned to Raven. - "What are you? A bunch of gorillas who can't behave in front of a new girl....?" - She rolled her eyes - "I'm sorry, honey... They're idiots... I'm Barbara, I think you already know the stooges..." - She smiled a warm smile and held out her hand to Raven who shook almost unnoticed. - "These are Duke, Stephanie and Cassandra..."

\- "I know Rae..." - Tim grunted smiling - "She was at the party I had there in San Francisco... And then she helped me with Dami too..."

\- "We already know the gremlin's platonic crush," - Jason muttered, shielding himself with a plate from Damian's gaze. Raven was pretty sure that if Damian could kill people, those cutlery was already buried in Jason's neck.

\- "Ahnn... Hi Barbara... I'm... Raven... Mmm... Damian called me to this... Ball... And everyone can... Calm down... We're just... Classmates... Friends, actually... There's nothing more..."

\- "Damian checked in at friendzone..." 

\- "Welcome to the Friendzone, buddy...."

\- "Shut up Dick and Jay..." - the blond-haired girl grunted - "Hi Raven... Nice to finally meet you... Damian talked about you so much that even birds know who you are..." - Stephanie grunted smiling - "How was the flight?"

\- "Brown... Shut up..." - Damian muttered under his breath, putting his hand over his face and Raven couldn't help but smile, it was cute to see how he was getting embarrassed at what his brothers were doing, even if it hit her too.

\- "Look at Damian's cheeks turning red! Come on, Dami..." 

\- "RICHARD GRAYSON!"

\- "Awwwwwn cute"

\- "Did you notice how he got up all gentleman when she came in? He has a big crush on her..."

\- "DUKE"

\- "So, Dami... We bet if you will finally kiss this girl today or if you will be the coward chicken and run away from her... Please help me and kiss her... I need to get 100 bucks from these idiots"

\- "JASON!" - Tim, Dick, Duke and Stephanie grumbled together.

\- "What?"

\- "YOU WHAT?"

\- "We bet... You need to kiss this girl, nobody can stand you anymore sighing for her in the corners and taking no action..."

\- "I WILL KILL YOU"

\- "Oh and there we go again..." - The girl Raven now knew as Barbara mumbled pinching the bridge of her nose - "Come on honey, let's sit down... I promise they'll soon stop this and behave like normal humans… Or as normal as they can be…" - Raven smiled and nodded, following her toward the bench and sitting between Tim and Duke, who were doing their best to dodge Damian who was held by Stephanie on the other side.

Raven could almost say she was having fun with the situation if they weren't using her to torment Damian.

They continued mocking Damian who just shrank back in his chair and decided to stare at his own food irritated by most of the coffee until they decided that mocking Tim was the next topic and leaving Damian alone.

Raven watched Damian look at her for a few seconds and whisper an _"I'm sorry"_ under his breath, unaware of his brothers and then return to the usual bored look as he watched Jason shudder laughing with Tim trying to explain what Conner was to him. Although Raven had no idea who Conner was, she found it funny how Tim shrank more to say they were just colleagues, even if Stephanie just rolled her eyes and ate again.

After Raven tried each of the rolls and brioches and cheese and crackers on the table and had the best chamomile tea she had ever had. Raven doubted she would be hungry until prom time, now she felt like she was too full.

\- "Well, the coffee is fine but, we have things to do..." - Stephanie grumbled putting the napkin on the table and getting up - "Boys... You have that... Subject... To look at Bruce's computer..."

\- "What subject...? The one involving Cobblepot and Nygma? Or that J subject again?" - Duke grunted, sucking the last of a chocolate milk through a straw. Raven watched everyone at the table look at the wide-eyed boy, especially Damian.

If they didn't want Raven to notice that there was something going on there, they failed miserably.

\- "That's why Bruce needs to pay attention to the kids he adopts..." - Jason mumbled rolling his eyes.

\- "Thomas, do you happen to pay attention to anything? Because you are always lost in conversation!"

\- "Not always... It's just that you talk a lot at the same time... It's hard to keep up..."

\- "Family affairs we keep in family, Duke..."

\- "And we have someone who doesn't know about family business at the table..."

\- "Do we have?" - Duke frowned.

\- "For God's sake, Duke ... Raven isn't family..." - Tim squealed. - "It's nothing personal, Rae..."

\- "Isn't family yet..." - Jason grunted laughing

\- "But isn't she Damian's girlfriend?"

\- "Yes?"

\- "No..."

\- "May be..."

\- "Nobody knows..."

\- "I think she's not..."

\- "It's not..." - Damian grunted, pinching the bridge of his nose and Raven saw his cheeks and his ear flush again. - "Raven is just a friend... Just that..." - He took a deep breath. - "That's not the point... The point is that we have to deal with that... Subject that father left with us..."

\- "Relax..." - Raven grumbled, pinching a croissant. - "I didn't understand anything you're trying to "keep in family" and I don't care either..." - She smiled and rolled her eyes. - "You don't have to talk about codes... And I'm not Damian's girlfriend... And I have no plans to be, either.... We're just friends..."

\- "Of course..."

\- "Surely you are just friends..."

\- "Can you two please shut up?" - Damian muttered

\- "Anyway..." - Barbara rolled her eyes and turned to Raven - "Go for me, you would rather be with us than with these guys..."

\- "Hmm... I was thinking of going to get some rest and then start getting ready..."

\- "Great... Let's make a girl club..." - Stephanie grunted smiling and getting up and Cass rolled his eyes - "That includes you too, Cass..."

\- "I have a choice?"

\- "No..."

\- "It's 5:00 pm... Are you going to start getting ready with 5 hours to go to this crap party? What do you guys do? Do you sew your panties?"

\- "Amazingly, Jason... It's not as simple as you make it look... It's not just taking a five-second shower and sticking it in a button-down shirt... Creams and clothes to put under those dresses..." - Stephanie grunted - "You know, lingeries are just the icing on the cake..."

\- "I won't listen to this conversation," - Damian grumbled, rising from his chair only to be held by Jason by the shoulder.

\- "What was Dami?" - Jason had a playful smile on his lips and Raven noticed that he and Damian stared at each other for a few seconds, long seconds - "Great... Dami wants to keep his secrets intact, we have something for the old man to do while he plays businessman and I don't care about your panties... For God's sake, you're like my sisters... Unless you tell me Artemis will be in this girl club... So I might be interested..."

\- "Oh shut up..." - Barbara mumbled pulling Raven by the shoulder - "Come Raven... You definitely don't have to endure this kind of conversation between them... Let's enjoy that Bruce isn't here and probably won't be until at night and we will use his suite master... The bathtub there is almost an Olympic size pool and a bubble bath will take away any fatigue you have from the trip..."

\- "Bubble bath? With Raven and you? Damian and I are in!" - Jason shouted far away

\- "What? I'm not!"

\- "No..."

\- "Why?"

\- "I said no, Jay..." - Barbara grunted, turning on her heel. - "And if any of you, any of you, dare to spy, use any camera in the house or any toys to see us dressing, I swear you will get a free colonoscopy. Come with us, Raven..."

\- "Boys are so....."

\- "Ugh..."

\- "They will use the security camera of Bruce's room..." - Cassandra grumbled moving the phone

\- "Who puts a security camera in his own room?" - Raven grunted with an arched eyebrow and her arms crossed over her chest as she followed Barbara.

\- "Bruce Wayne" - The three girls responded in unison

\- "Believe me, Raven... Bruce Wayne is the most freaky security guy you can meet... And there's a safe hidden somewhere in the room with his mother's pearls so he has cameras in the room... "

\- "Jason is going to use them, I'm sure..." - Cassandra murmured - "Mainly because of the new toy in the playground... "

\- "Ew, gross... Jay is not pedophile, Cass..."

\- "Not for him, Stephanie... Jason is all drooling over Artemis and he has that thing with Roy that is undefined... He will do it because of Damian... He will try to embarrass Damian at all costs"

\- "They won't... Believe me..." - Barbara smiled. - "I don't think you brought a bathing suit, did you?"

\- "Uh... No..."

\- "Stephanie... You know what to do..."

\- "I'm on my way!" - And before Raven saw where she went, Stephanie disappeared into the halls of the mansion. Again Raven found herself imagining her running at the same speed as Stephanie ran... 

She would probably get lost in those walls... 

Raven wondered how long it would take for someone to find her if this would happen.

Raven wondered how long it would take Damian to find her... _Wait, why did she think Damian would find her?_

Stephanie returned not long after with a bathing suit for Raven and she was ordered to put on and just relax.

Barbara fulfilled her promises about the girl club thing, Raven didn't know she needed to go through so many beauty processes, and she was friends with Rose and Tara, who put her through at least 5 different types of creams and masks the last time she went to a party. Raven really felt much better and more refreshed after letting the foam and bubbles take away any tiredness or jet lag that remained in her.

Raven heard stories about how Damian had gotten to Gotham, how hard it was for him to accept everyone there and how crazy his mother was and it took a while for him to understand that his childhood had been stolen, but Raven noticed that they were careful to say things, always skirting some subjects about who he was in the past and who he was now in the present, making her even more curious about what Damian's mysterious, dark and seemingly painful past would be. She remembered the countless scars he had.

\- "Look, they're not always like that..." - Steph grunted eating one of the cucumbers she had stopped over her eyes.

\- "No...?"

\- "No... Usually they just piss off Timmy..."

\- "Oh yes..." - Barbara laughed

\- "So... Stephanie..." - Cassandra muttered bored while flipping through a magazine while Barbara worked at full speed trying to make her hair have waves - "What does Tim and Conner really have?"

\- "No big deal... They were dating at high school and today are good friends and work together from time to time... That's all..."

\- "Wait..." - Raven sat down - "Timmy is bisexual?"

\- "Hmmm... I think so..." - Stephanie scratched her chin - "Jason too... And Dick?"

\- "It's bisexual too..." - Barbara muttered - "Cass can you please be quiet? I'm trying not to burn you..."

\- "And... Damian...?" - Raven muttered softly

\- "Hmm... We don't know... You're the first girl friend he brings here..."

\- "Damian doesn't like to talk about his private life, spends most of his time in San Francisco and doesn't even bring friends here... If he has any friends..."

\- "But things are changing... He brought a beautiful high school girlfriend!"

\- "I'm not his girlfriend... We're not... We're not dating..."

\- "Ah come on..."

\- "Really..." - took a deep breath - "We're friends and well, it's a new friendship... And that's all..."

\- "And nothing ever happened between you?"

\- "Nothing at all?"

\- "Not even a physical and sexual tension?"

\- "No..." - Raven took a deep breath, her heart racing against her chest.

\- "He has a crush on you..."

\- "No...?"

\- "Yeah... I never saw him like that..."

\- "No... There's nothing... He was probably just nervous because Jason, Dick and Timmy were making fun of him..."

\- "Why do you stay in denial?" - Raven opened her mouth and then closed it again and then just touched the back of her neck.

She wasn't required to answer that, she wasn't in denial...

Isn't it?

\- "Oh..."

\- "We touch a sensitive spot..."

\- "No... It's not that... I'm not in denial..."

\- "Girls kill each other at a party like this to be in your place, and you just accepted because he's your friend?"

\- "He told me he didn't trust anyone else to come with him and Emiko already had a couple..." - Raven grunted sliding her hand over the bubbles, pulling them to her chest.

\- "He's an idiot..." - Cassandra grunted

\- "Someone needs to teach him a lesson on _"how to win a girl"_"

\- "And yet you accepted?"

\- "Well, yes? He's nice and helped me with a problem so... Why not?"

\- "It's not possible that you are just friends..." - Stephanie grunted laughing - "I mean, Dami is unbearable and usually surly and rude, I can't imagine anyone totally the opposite of him becoming his friend..."

\- "Damian is... _different,_" - Raven grumbled without looking at the three girls behind her. - "He's very kind and nice and gentle when he's not in his _i hate everyone_ mood... And it's understandable..."

\- "_Gentle_?"

\- "Is Damian _kind_?"

\- "Oh God I only saw him being kind to his pets..."

\- "Oh..."

\- "Uh... I think you really feel something for each other..."

\- "N-no... I mean, we spend a lot of time hating each other and sometimes he's extremely annoying and sometimes I feel like I could tear him apart with my own hands, but... There are no other feelings... Just one... New friendship..."

\- "And you mean there was never tension..."

\- "The hottest novels always start with hatred between them and with a sexual tension between the two..."

\- "Come on Raven, it's not possible that you don't really feel a physical attraction to him..." - Stephanie laughed biting her lip - "It's in your eyes that you have something, but you are still in denial... He got nervous when you arrived, as he almost turned the table with his thighs when he went to get up just to say hi..."

\- "It's not possible there wasn't even a kiss between you... Damian doesn't trust anyone... And the way he has a crush on you, surely something happened..."

Raven took a deep breath, thanking the foam and the water in the tub now covering her body almost all over. Her heart pounded against her chest and the memories of Damian kissing her in the back of the library, his soft lips sliding softly down her neck and his calloused hands sliding into her shirt and how she let it happen and how she wanted more. A memory that she had kept under lock and key in the back of her mind now flooded back with confused feelings. Raven found herself clenching her fist before her breath denounced her.

Many things had happened, from a near kiss in his room to a warm, touchy kiss in the library.

But she didn't need to tell about it.

\- "Nothing happened... Seriously..." - Raven took a deep breath - "We're trying to keep the white flag... But it's very hard... I really want to punch his pretty face several times a day..."

\- "Oh..."

\- "Sure..." - Stephanie grunted, nodding and Raven shrank... She felt the irony flowing from her like waves... Raven felt every feeling inside that suite.

_Sixth sense... Turn this thing off..._

Raven knew things broke when she got nervous and felt _too much_.

\- "Leave the girl alone..." - Cassandra murmured

\- "We're not doing anything, Cass... It's a girl talk..." - Cassandra rolled her eyes and looked bored again at the magazine

\- "Well, I think we've been soaking in this tub long enough..." - Barbara said

\- "And we have a new kindergarten doll..." - Stephanie grinned from ear to ear, looking at Raven - "Oh... We definitely have to leave Damian's chin on the floor..." - And before Raven protesting, Barbara and Stephanie were huddling around her with more creams and more products.

Raven couldn't tell how long that whole production lasted... She saw tweezers and cucumbers and masks and soaps and wax running through her body, when Raven looked out the window again she saw that night had already fallen.

Raven felt like a doll in the hands of the girls, Stephanie made up Raven while Barbara combed her hair, pinning in a single braid, with loose strands falling down her face. Cassandra was practically like a ghost walking around the room as she tried to escape Stephanie's deadly make-up brushes, laughing and saying or asking to Raven something she could blackmail Damian.

And pushing Jason out of the room, since he insisted he wanted to see how they were doing and brought them snacks as an excuse.

When the garden lights came on and the voices outside were audible and the sound of music filled the room, Raven took a deep breath... It was time to face it all and see the dress Alfred had bought her (she still believed that Damian had bought it, but didn't argue... She would stress about it another time).

She tried to get Stephanie to accept her to put on the dress she had taken, but Stephanie threatened to throw juice if she put it on and Raven, not wanting to have to change and clean again, agreed to take the dress out of the white box.

Raven bit her lip and turned slowly to the mirror, holding her breath when she saw her own reflected image. There was a snow-white girl with braided hair with tiny bright details falling in her braid like silver stars in the dark night. On the lips a dark lipstick that underscored her full, thick shape and in the eyes, a thin and defined line of a simple black eyeliner, highlighting the oceanic blue of the eyes. The girl in the reflection was pretty, _so pretty_... She barely remembered the crumpled, tired girl who had gotten off the plane hours before.

And then, there was the **dress**.

Raven had never seen such a beautiful dress in her life, she had to admit it to herself. It was navy blue, like her eyes, made of light, thin fabric, and ran to her feet, making her look like she could float around. There was a small cleavage, with the strap falling over her shoulder, decorated with small silver stones that she didn't doubt were... _Expensive_...

\- "Are these diamonds?" - Barbara said forcing her eyes to the detail of the strap of Raven dress. Barbara wore a long lilac dress that made her look like a Greek goddess, with her fiery hair tied in a bun at the top and loose strands, showing her pale blue earrings like her eyes.

\- "I'm sure it's diamonds..." - Stephanie whispered, smiling with both hands to her mouth. Stephanie had opted for a simple, black, V-neck straps dress while her hair was wavy and tied with a pin that was studded with precious stones.

\- "Who buys a diamond dress?" - Cassandra grumbled rolling her eyes, while putting on (unwillingly) a high heeled shoe, matching the short black dress she wore.

\- "Damian..." - Barbara and Stephanie said together in unison

\- "I should put my dress on," - Raven grumbled, looking back into the mirror. - "It's simple but... It's not something with freaking diamonds!"

\- "Relax" - Cassandra said holding Raven's arm - "Near what you will see today, these are pebbles..."

\- "Do you remember the mayor's wife at the last Gala?"

\- "Oh... She came with a sparkling dress and an emerald ring... She drank a little too much champagne and lost the ring... Oh, Batman had to search every corner of this room..."

\- "And Robin!"

\- "Do you remember how Bruce looked?"

\- "Wait..." - Raven grunted with an arched brow. - "Is Batman and robin really a real thing? Like, a guy walking around punching criminals and wearing a bat suit?"

\- "Well..."

\- "Err..."

\- "Gotham is a place where everything happens, Raven..." - Cassandra said holding a laugh - "Well, San Francisco has no superheroes?"

\- "Hmmm... I think so... But, I don't know... That sounds like something very fanciful..." - Raven grimaced - "Okay, there are powerful people and all, and I know there is Wonder Woman and Superman out there and they live in that space tower watching over us mere mortals, but... A normal bat-clad guy? Walking around with a kid dressed in a funny and colorful outfit punching bad guys? I don't know... It seems... Strangely fanciful to me... This guy could be killed at any moment! He's just a guy..."

\- "Yeah..." - Barbara swallowed hard - "He's just a crazy guy and Gotham is a city of crazy people and well... I hope he doesn't have to show up today and ruin his first annual Wayne ball... I have the feeling that you will come more often and it would be bad if your first experience had to be meeting a sinister guy dressed as a night animal..."

\- "Exactly" - Cassandra hummed near the door

\- "So..." - Stephanie grunted, swaying on her feet. - "Are we just going down and mingling or making _Charlie's Angels_ style entrance?"

\- "For God's sake, let's just fucking go..."

\- "You have to relax, Cass... If Dami is going with Raven that means your crush will be free today!"

\- "Shut up..."

\- "Oh..."

\- "I don't think Raven will want to get any more attention..." - Barbara muttered. - "Poor thing, the media will devour you if they can..."

\- "That's exactly the kind of thing I wanted to avoid..." - Raven muttered under her breath, folding her arms.

\- "Relax, if you get nervous that's exactly when they will hunt you down... And they'll swallow you alive for a slip that proves you're the _new girlfriend of the Wayne corporate heir_."

\- "That definitely doesn't help, Stephanie..."

\- "Relax... Just smile, wave and say nothing..."

Raven took a deep breath

_Smile and say nothing..._

_Smile, and say nothing..._

_Smile and say absolutely nothing..._

She could focus on that...

\- "So let's go… So we mingle at the party, Raven soon goes to Damian's protection and everyone will be able to focus on the important announcement Bruce will make shortly after the fireworks display."

\- "Okay..." - Stephanie pouted - "No Charlie's Angels entry..."

\- "Come on, Stephanie ... I bet you're going to make a great Charlie's Angela-style entry today at another time," - Barbara grumbled, pulling Stephanie by the arm, which just pulled Cassandra and Raven out of the room.

_Smile, wave and say nothing_... Oh god, she would have to memorize that

In the ballroom, Damian tried to contain the impatience and uneasiness he felt strangely in his chest. Jason had been tormenting him all day since breakfast and he knew he would never let it go if he noticed he was anxious.

Damian just couldn't say why

Luckily, all his life, Damian could make up his emotions very well, he greeted people, gave fake smiles, dodged girls who tried to find out if he was alone and talked to people important to his father's company, but he had that one itch in his hands and his heart beat fast every time he looked up the stairs, waiting for _someone_ to come down.

The same coffee-time symptoms, the same symptoms he'd been developing every time he was in Raven's eyes.

He definitely had a heart problem and would look for Alfred the next day for a checkup. His dangerous and bloody past had surely brought him consequences, and perhaps if he discovered the cause quickly, he could find a cure.

That tachycardia was annoying

_Feeling it all when he saw Raven was annoying_

And he was tired of feeling silly and sick around her, Jason and Dick wouldn't let him live after what happened at the afternoon... They tormented him with that for the rest of his miserable life.

Damian snorted and leaned against the bar counter with his hands in his pocket, giving up walking among the people who came and went, he was tired of having to smile falsely and just wanted to wait for Raven to come down so he had to stop running away from her annoying daughter of a shareholder.

Too bored watching the champagne bubbles rise through the glass, Damian saw not only his attention, but most of the eyes in the room focus on the 4 women coming down the stairs, especially focusing on the pale girl, like the first snow-white in Christmas, on a navy blue flowing dress.

She looked like a _Renaissance_ painting, her dress swaying as she moved and her hair looking like a starry night... He was sure if he could, he would paint that image right there.

His heart skipped a beat and thudded as he saw her smile, everything turned and he felt like he was going to throw up...

Oh gods... Raven was _incredibly_, _deadly_ and _madly beautiful_...

And he was going to die...


	16. Chapter 16

She was beautiful...

And he was sure he would die...

Everything was moving torturously and painfully in slow motion and Damian felt his heart beating fast in his chest. Was that feeling normal? Dry mouth, sweaty hands, legs shaking?

He must have been sick, very sick... Maybe he had a short life, so many years of dying and returning shouldn't have done him good. But why did he feel it all when he saw her? He didn't even like her, in fact, he found her annoying and she wasn't that special...

Damian shook his head, no... She was special, he had convinced himself of that... But... They were becoming friends and nothing more...

Damian swallowed hard, stuffing his hands in his pocket to disguise how shaky and sweaty they were as he watched Raven smile and wave at people she didn't know, heading toward where he was... 

God, it looked like she could float.

\- "Ahnn... Hi..." - Her voice flooded every inch of him - "You are there..."

\- "And you're there..." - Damian muttered, finding his own voice. Raven smiled a thin smile, and nodded - "Hmm... Do you want to drink something?"

\- "You shouldn't be drinking..."

\- "Right..." - He smiled softly

\- "Anyway..." - Raven took a deep breath and rocked on her shoes - "Hmm... Nice party..."

\- "Ahnn... Nice dress..."

\- "I'll pretend it was really Alfred who gave me and not you..." - She laughed, biting the inside of her mouth almost hard enough to bleed.

The truth was, Raven knew how to make up her emotions and remain stoic. But she was thinking of random things to not pay attention to Damian, and how his long hair was carefully tied into a bun or how handsome he looked in a black tuxedo and white shirt. It contracted very well with the cinnamon color of his skin. Raven clutched the skirt of her dress, trying to control the urge to put a stray lock of hair that fell across his face behind his ear.

\- "I... I don't know what you're talking about, but I won't question... Now isn't the best time for you to start screaming like you always do when you're upset..." - He smiled and Raven felt her stomach turn over. His eyes looked so green and those damn perfect white teeth...

She imagined those damn white teeth sinking into her lips, and... _Wait, what?_

Raven took a deep breath and rolled her eyes.

\- "Hmm... So... What do we do at these kind of parties? I never had to go to a businessmen's ball so... Did we just smile and wave?" - Raven grunted, swaying on her heel, looking around. She didn't want to look at him again...

She was thinking of things that didn't make sense

Damian took a deep breath and nodded slowly and then reached out for her to hold. Raven looked anxiously at him and then held on, wondering if she was too paranoid or if people were really staring at her and whispering as they walked among the people.

\- "Well..." - He muttered after a while in silence - "We talked to people..." - He smiled - "And we danced..."

\- "I... I don't dance..."

\- "Oh... You need..." - He smiled again, as if having fun - "It's your first ball... You need to dance a waltz... "

\- "Need?" 

\- "Yeah, you need to... I bet there's a law about it somewhere..." - He laughed. 

\- "To be honest? Maybe..."

\- "I don't dance... Period..."

\- "You're going to dance... A waltz and nothing else... It doesn't have to be me, I don't even want to dance..."

\- "You didn't say there was a waltz involved!"

\- "You didn't ask the details..."

\- "You called me pretty soon!"

\- "You wouldn't let me say before..."

\- "Before when? When did Emiko kick you in the ass?"

\- "Before..." - He grunted - "Anyway... That's not the case..." - He took a deep breath - "It's a stupid dance... And I bet you'll feel comfortable seeing familiar faces..."

\- "What are you saying?"

\- "Logan and Wilson will be here..."

\- "It doesn't help much to calm me down..." - Raven raised her eyebrow. - "Rose is like a hell in person when it comes to pissing me off..."

\- "You don't live with Todd" - Damian laughed, turning in front of her - "He makes anyone's life turn it, you know, the real hell... You saw a little today..."

\- "Ah..." - Raven laughed - "It was cute... I mean, they were using me for that, but it was cute... I never had siblings and full table, so... I don't know how this is..."

\- "Well, is a hell..." - Damian took a deep breath laughing - "Anyway... My father wants to make an important announcement later, and... I don't know what it is... And then, fireworks and it's over..."

\- "Just that?" - Raven raised an eyebrow - "Do you spend a lot of money for two or three hours of party with boring music, tasteless food and fake smiles?"

\- "Hmmm... Basically..." - He laughed - "And there's champagne... But they always come in at dawn... Jason always ends up drunk in the middle of the dancefloor and always has some scandal... And people always want some more of champagne and dancing..."

\- "Ew..." - Raven scowled, wrinkling her nose and he thought it... cute? - "You shouldn't drink, I shouldn't drink..."

\- "You say as if Tim's party was serving blackberry juice..."

\- "Different situations..." - Raven murmured, rolling her eyes - "And blackberry juice is horrible..."

\- "Same alcohol composition..."

\- "Whatever..." - Raven shrugged.

\- "Exactly..." - Damian smiled - "Whatever..."

Raven nodded slowly and walked back with Damian among the people. He looked so different from what he usually was, always with a thin smile on his face and always greeting people and shaking hands with old men who seemed important. He always introduced Raven as a family friend and strangely, she was comfortable with that.

Raven did see familiar faces, Jon and his whole family were there, and Raven saw his mother whisper something to the boy that made him have red ears and cheeks. She also saw other high school girls, all looking as if they might kill her for arm in arm with Damian.

Raven decided that was just her paranoia.

Damian greeted Emiko Queen, who was having a lively conversation with a red-haired boy Raven didn't know. She was different, even smiled and praised Raven... Which was a breakthrough, since she barely spoke to Raven at school.

Raven was starting to get tired of smiling, waving and saying "nice to meet you" when a tight hug caught her from behind, lifting her inches off the floor.

\- "Oh... Look at you, _gorgeous_..." - Garfield's voice sounded behind Raven.

\- "I said they would be here..." - Damian muttered, putting his hand in his pocket again. Raven bit her bottom lip and turned to see Garfield, Tara, Rose, and Joey.

\- "Isn't she able to dress well without our help?" - Rose murmured laughing and putting Raven on the floor again - "Look bird, you are... Beautiful!"

\- "Shut up..." - Raven grunted laughing - "Hey Joey...!" - Raven murmured surprise, throwing herself on the boy's shoulder. He grinned and waved hi.

Raven was very fond of seeing Joey there, it wasn't always that he showed up at parties and it had been a long time since they had last spoken. If everything got boring and she felt lonely, she was glad she could join him and talk about trivial things.

\- "Why didn't you tell me you were coming? I could have come with you..."

\- "We said... You probably didn't hear it because you were pissed off and muttering about _why Damian was such an idiot you couldn't say no_...."

\- "And ruin your Wayne doll afternoon? No way..."

\- "Hahaha very funny, Rose..." - Raven rolled her eyes - "And I didn't say that, Gar..." - she snorted, Damian wouldn't let her get out of it... She could already see him looking with a playful smile in his lips - "Don't believe what Garfield said, _Wayne_..."

\- "I didn't say anything, _Roth_..."

\- "Hmm... Fuck it"

\- "For God's sake kiss and get a room soon"

\- "Rose shut up for goodness sake..."

\- "As if I wanted something from her..."

\- "As if I'm going to have something with him... I really care about my sanity..."

\- "And here we go..."

\- "TT" - Damian muttered, clicking his tongue like only he could do.

\- "Really gonna have a shower of fireworks?"

\- "Wayne Enterprise's birthday Tara, what do you expect?"

\- "Oh... Of course..."

\- "You rich are so eccentric..." - Rose murmured rolling her eyes

\- "Where are you staying?" - Damian grunted trying to change the subject. - "Gotham is not a hotel paradise..."

\- "Actually this city is rubbish..." - Rose said laughing - "No offense, but for God's sake, we had to have an epic battle with rats to get in the car..."

\- "You could stay here at the mansion tomorrow," Damian muttered, ignoring Rose's comment. - "I have things to work out with my... Family... I think she'll feel alone here..."

\- "Owwwn... How cute..."

\- "When are you going to assume this relationship and kiss? Seriously, it's annoying to look at you behaving like a cute, passionate couple and you just aren't..."

\- "Oh shit..." - Raven rolled her eyes. - "It's nothing like that." - She rolled her eyes. - "And you definitely don't need this, Damian. I can go out alone and know the city and I don't know, go to the library..."

\- "You? Walking alone in Gotham? No fucking way..." - Damian muttered rolling his eyes - "I know this city damn well to know it's not the place for you..."

\- "In this I have to agree..."

\- "Rats... A lot of rats..." - Rose muttered with a frown. - "Anyway..." - She turned to Damian. - "We're in Garfield's family apartment..."

\- "Steven and Rita had a Penthouse here..." - Gar answered quietly

\- "Steven?" - Damian raised an eyebrow. - "Steven Dalton and Rita? Do you know Steven Dalton and Rita Farr?"

\- "Hmmm... They are kind of, my foster parents... Why?"

\- "I thought I told you Gar is adopted by an actress and a millionaire..." - Raven grumbled with her arms crossed.

\- "Nothing ... - Damian muttered - "Things in the business world... My father has business with Steven... Shit... I thought I had done enough research. How did I let this pass?"

\- "Wait... What?"

\- "Nothing..." - Raven muttered, rolling her eyes. She should have left it untouched...

Raven had found out how damn crazy Damian was about trusting one of the times she went to help Tim when Damian was still in bed by the broken rib.

Damian literally had an FBI-worthy information system at home and she found that he researched everything about almost everyone at school and that included about herself...

She remembered perfectly well how deeply she wanted to hit that computer on his head... 

_Multiple times_

\- "What matters is that you're here and oh, it's great to see you too Joey" - Raven grunted smiling and Joey replied that she looked beautiful using sign language - "And... I don't need babysitters, I know very well take care of me and for God's sake Damian... I'm not your concern... You can rest easy with whatever you have to do..."

\- "Hmm... We'll see tomorrow"

\- "If you don't mind, all this romance and sexual tension is making you want to throw up..." - Rose murmured. - "Hey, Dami... Is Tim here today?"

\- "Yes..."

\- "And is he accompanied?"

\- "Mmmm... Yes...?"

\- "Oh shit... Do you have any other single brothers or cousins?"

\- "Rose!"

\- "What?" - Rose laughed

\- "You're at a gala party and not a school party!"

\- "AND...? 

\- "Can you, I don't know, stop going to parties thinking about sex?"

\- "Of course I can..." - She laughed biting her lip - "But I don't want to... Look, I don't want to be alone at a party like this... Joey probably leaves with a new boyfriend because he's sweet and lovely and everyone loves boys like this... Gar and Tara will probably extend this to something else... You have a hot date with you and go to sleep at his house... I don't wanna be the candle of it"

\- "First, shut up... Second, I'm sleeping here because you didn't tell me you were coming... Not because... of _what_ you implied and third, you're crazy," - Raven muttered. - "Crazy. That's it."

\- "Nah... Whatever, birdie... If you don't sneak into each other's room by the weekend, you're more stupid than I thought..." - She rolled her eyes - "Anyway, I'm going for a walk on the dance floor, maybe someone wants to taste this snack I am..."

\- "And Tara and I are going to the dance floor, are you coming?" - Gar muttered to Joey, who just nodded, then told Raven that he just didn't want to be around the two because it was so bad and almost a diabetes before saying goodbye and going to talk to Dick.

Joey had known Dick from years before, Raven just didn't know when.

\- "So..." - Raven grunted, turning back to Damian - "We are back to square one... Smile and wave only?"

\- "Hmmm... No..." - Damian grumbled looking at his watch - "Soon my father should make the announcement... The fireworks are in 10 minutes..."

\- "Any tips on a good place to watch?"

\- "We can go outside as soon as you finish dancing with me..."

\- "Damian, I... I don't dance..." - He rolled his eyes, clicking his tongue again before reaching for her. - "This long dress, this high heel... No, I'll make a mess..."

\- "One dance..." - He smiled and Raven felt her heart drop to her stomach - "Just one dance... Nothing will happen to you... I will not let anything happen..." - Raven took a deep breath and bit her lip, not knowing whether to hold his hand or not - "Do you trust me?"

Raven let her breath out slowly, her eyes locked on Damian's, and then, unnoticed, she took his hand. Raven felt a rush of electricity run through her body as she felt his callused hand against her soft hand...

For a brief instant, Raven stepped out of her trance and wondered why he had such calloused hands... He was a Wayne, a playboy and probably grew up with luxury and wealth...

But Raven completely erased those questions as he pulled her closer and then she felt his heart beating calmly in his chest as he drove her into a slow, magical melody.

Raven smelled several essences, the scent of gel she always felt that probably came from his hair. The smell of pepper and soap and it made her feel strangely hot. And a simple note that resembled dew of a beautiful morning and clear skies and the good feel of a cup of hot lemon tea on a rainy day... Like that warm sensation of the cup in your hands that makes you shiver and the sweet lemon scent that makes you feel at home.

And brown sugar  
And cinnamon.

Damian felt everything he always felt when it came to Raven, though he knew how to hide well. He could keep his breathing calm and his heartbeat at a steady pace, even though the rest of his body was shaking and he thanked his years of training for it. Raven smelled of lavender, vanilla, hot coffee, rain-soaked dirt floor, and books. Her skin was soft as cotton and her eyes were so big and blue that they looked like big blue agate. It was almost an invitation to just stay... Raven was a force of nature and he couldn't help but feel pulled into it... 

Like a magnet.

And he was almost intimidated by her lips... They were almost inviting and his heart pounded every time she bit it without realizing it.

Damian took a deep breath and cleared his mind, his mission being to check up with Alfred the next day... He needed answers, needed to understand why there was something wrong with him every time it was about Raven.

They were intoxicated by the smells and sensations and Damian smiled, oblivious, when she rested her head against his chest. He had the same feeling of coming home after a long time away...

They swayed in silence for a while, not knowing if they were doing right or if the music was still going on. But only bound by what seemed to be right in their small universe of smells and essences and mixed feelings.

\- "Hmmm..." - Raven muttered after another spin. - "You're not trying to help Jason win that bet, are you?"

\- "Mmmm? Of course not…" - Damian muttered rolling his eyes as he put his hand around Raven's waist again - "Do you really think I would do this?"

\- "Well... He's filming across the dance floor..." - Raven grunted laughing - "I needed to make sure... I won't kiss you tonight..."

\- "As if I wanted to kiss you tonight" - Liar - "This is stupid..."

\- "Mmmm... Of course..." - Raven raised an eyebrow - "The other... Situations were complete accidents..."

\- "Exactly... Little... Accidents" - He took a deep breath - "That will not be repeated..."

\- "Exactly..."

\- "Great..." - He murmured - "Jason is an idiot, just... Ignore him..."

\- "Just like Gar..." - She took a deep breath - "By the way, just... Ignore what he said..."

\- "About...?" - Damian arched an eyebrow. - "The part he said about his parents or the part he said you can't say _no_ to me?" - He laughed, the same mischievous smile as before.

\- "Exactly this last part..." - Raven rolled her eyes - "Forget it... I never said such a stupid thing. And I'll punch you if you use it against me sometime."

\- "I said nothing..."

\- "You don't have to say... It's stamped on your face..."

\- "If you say so..." - He smiled and spun her around once more and Raven didn't know if she was dizzy from the turns, or the feeling of having his hand heavily on her waist.

\- "Hmmm..." - Raven took a deep breath and rested her head on his chest again, looking the other way to disguise her pink cheeks.

They spun a little more silently, following the sound of the band playing at the party. They were in their perfect universe and nothing seemed to affect them, nor their differences, nor their fears.

They barely noticed when the music stopped, and Raven was forcibly pulled into reality when she heard the clapping. She subtly pulled away from Damian and bit her lip, trying to ignore when her cheeks were burning.

\- "Hmmm... The fireworks..." - Damian grunted at Raven's ear - "They should start soon..."

\- "Mmhumm..."

\- "Good evening everyone..." - Bruce Wayne's soft yet imposing voice sounded from the speakers. - "It's an honor to have you all here, celebrating another year and helping us in a noble cause as of the annual fundraiser for orphaned children of Gotham" - Another clap of rain echoed through the room - "I promise to be brief in my speech" - Everyone in the room laughs - "You have champagnes and canapes to eat and don't want to see a playboy talking and talking up here... As you all may know, and probably must be tired of hearing." - Bruce smiled and Raven couldn't help bit notice the resemblance to Damian. Both had a dimple in their cheeks that appeared only in one kind of smile, the fake smile - "Wayne businesses have been present in Gotham since the 19th century, founded by my ancestors and though it has expanded and is now one of the largest companies in the world, we have our roots in Gotham, my city, my home. Gotham welcomed me the parents I lost one day and I, along with my dear employees and directors and managers, make our best efforts to further improve the quality of life of our countrymen, especially the people of Gotham..." - There was another shower of applause and the hall lights went out until only a flash of light remained on Bruce Wayne and his flawless businessman pose. Raven wasn't a detective, but she could observe a person very well... And she could know very well when they were pretending. And there, looking at that laid-back, cheerful Bruce Wayne, she could tell perfectly well that it was a mask, a disguise. She just didn't know why

Maybe it was because she had seen him in person and he was closer than that.

Or maybe he would let go because of the champagnes or because of the beautiful, short-haired woman who occasionally Raven saw standing beside him. Raven also saw Damian wrinkle his nose when he saw the woman near his father.

\- "Mmmm... Come with me..." - He murmured in her ear, holding Raven's hand and pulling her between the people who were looking happily with their glasses of golden liquid in their hands at Bruce on stage.

\- "And that's why with great pride, we at Wayne Enterprise and the Wayne family, along with my friend, mayor Michael Akins, are happy to announce not only the second part of Gotham's historic downtown revitalization project, but also, the construction of an old dream, a dream of my parents..." - Raven looked at the stage just in time to see the red curtain fall to the floor and a huge model showing. A giant complex, it should be about the same size as that mansion receiving all the "Oh" and applause - "The Martha and Thomas Wayne Home For Children!" - Raven heard loud applause from the hall as the curtains of the large windows opened and colorful fireworks rose across the sky and exploded in a blue-and-gold colored rain...

Damian had led her to the front of the lake that bathed the mansion, right where the fires were being thrown, and Raven could see everything right above her. A panoramic view of a shower of colors.

Damian felt mesmerized, Raven was smiling with bright eyes and her face was lit by the blue and gold of the fireworks rising and exploding high above them. She looked so beautiful lit up by those colors that he simply lost his speech and just stood there, staring at her face and controlling himself so as not to kiss her right there.

_Fuck, he really wanted to kiss her right now_

He didn't even know why he wanted to kiss her, he had no feelings for her, never had, never wanted to have but, whenever they were together he felt it and from the first time he saw her, he felt confused, angry, hot and cold and sick and crazy and always did stupid things and couldn't speak straight. He didn't understand what was happening to him, to his heart, to his feelings. And it scared him, made him afraid of what might happen, made him feel vulnerable, exposed and small... And he didn't know what to do or how to act.

Raven and her blue eyes and snow-colored skin and ebony hair became his disease, and for some strange and singular reason, her lips were always the cure.

\- "This is... So beautiful..." - Raven murmured without looking at him and sincerely, Damian mentally thanked for that... He would know if he would control himself if he had her lips inviting him to approach and he would probably be ashamed for looking mesmerized at her.

He didn't give a fuck for the fireworks high above him.

\- "Hmm?"

\- "Fireworks..." - She grunted smiling - They are so beautiful... A thing of eccentric and millionaire people who like to spend money on trivia, but... They are so beautiful... Don't you think?"

\- "Eh..." - Damian bit the inside of his cheek not knowing if he was answering what she had asked or if he was answering his own thoughts. Again, he really didn't give a fuck for the fireworks - "Really... Beautiful... Really... Really beautiful..."

\- "Hm?" - Raven tilted her head to look at him with those big curious eyes, the brows drawn together.

\- "The fireworks..." - Damian grunted, scratching his throat - "The fireworks is beautiful... And... I think we should go back to the party... My... My father will talk whatever what he has to say yet and so... We will be free and... You... You'll can rest..."

\- "Will he make another announcement? Well... I thought he said something important... Build a safe place for at-risk or orphan children? I think that's a big announcement" - Raven grunted swinging on her heels - "And... I'm fine..." - She smiled - "I've been to worse parties... At least no one has poured beer on me yet..."

\- "About the orphanage?" - Damian put his hands in his pocket, kicking a pebble without looking at her. He was still recovering from his stupid moment and wasn't sure of himself. The fireworks still exploded in blue and gold above him. - "No... That's not what he wanted to announce... About the orphanage I knew..." He took a deep breath. - "But he said it was going to be an announcement for the family too... And I don't know what it is... I don't know if I like the idea of surprises too..."

\- "Oh..." - Raven nodded slowly as she started walking back to the mansion. - "Don't you like surprises?"

\- "I was taught to not like surprises..."

\- "Ah... That mysterious past you don't like talking about..."

\- "Uh..."

\- "Hmm... Well..." - She took a deep breath - "There are good surprises and bad surprises..." - She shrugged - "Like, for example, birthday party! It's a good surprise... You get a little embarrassed but it's a good surprise..."

\- "This is definitely not going to be a birthday party..."

\- "I know..."

\- "Anyway..." - Damian shook his head and smiled awkwardly. - "Let's go in. You don't want to miss Todd probably making some scandal by the end of the night."

Raven took a deep breath and nodded, he wasn't going to open with her about what was making him upset and she didn't want to tease him. Not in the middle of a gala party...

She could try again in high school when they got back to San Francisco.

They walked the short path in silence, listening to the applause and whistling and decadent flashes of the people inside the room who seemed too preoccupied with Bruce Wayne's big announcement and the fireworks still lighting the lake to watch the two young returning from the silent lake. (Raven was sure that newspapers around the world would report the benevolence of young Mr. Wayne the next morning.)

And she was grateful for that... Thinking about the headlines the next day was a headache she didn't want to have.

Bruce smiled on the stage, posing for pictures with important people next to the orphanage mockup, while flashing flashes from several cameras, Raven counted at least 30.

They stood on the side near the huge exit door, watching people slowly turn their attention to Bruce still at the top of the stage.

\- "Okay, okay... Thank you, thank you "- He grunted after a loud time of applause - "This was the announcement I wanted to make as CEO of Wayne Enterprise... But it wasn't the only announcement I wanted to make..." - He took a deep breath and Raven looked at Damian, he was muttering in another language again and she understood nothing but knew he was angry - "I wanted to announce something else, in my personal life... I found the woman I truly love..." - A shower of audience awwwns - "And I've already asked her, but... Now I want to officially do it here with all of you, my friends, my family, my children and mates..." - Bruce started to walk the stage, being accompanied by the flash of light above him, until he came to the woman Raven had seen with him before. Bruce knelt down and pulled a ring out of his pocket and the whole room exploded into applause again and the camera flashes could almost blind one person - "Selina Kyle, my friend, my lifemate... Will you marry me?"

Selina smiled and nodded, and then Bruce lifted her in the air, twirling her as he kissed her. People cheered, whistled, took pictures and congratulated the couple.

But there was one of those who seemed terribly annoyed by the situation. Raven was smiling and clapping along with the other guests when she noticed Damian stepping out of her side and into the garden again, stomping hard against the ground as if he was about to explode.

Raven took a deep breath and looked at the scene where no one seemed to care about him and then looked at Damian walking through the garden, disappearing from sight as quickly as smoke. Raven strangely understood this and what he might be going through.

Apparently, as little as she knew about him, his parents were divorced and his mother had died two years ago... And now, he was living in a culture he didn't understand seeing his father be happy with another woman. It was selfish, but Raven could understand...

Maybe because she was also a teenager and she also hated having a stepfather when her mother got involved with Slade...

Raven lifted the long hem of her dress and decided to go after Damian, talking to someone who had been through it might help... Talking to Rose and Joey at the time helped her more than every time Angela tried to explain.

She followed the path he had followed, slowly moving further away from the party and the animated conversations and photographic flashes until she found Damian sitting on a wooden bench near a greenhouse, petting a cat on his lap while talking to him very quietly. Raven slowed as she approached, unsure of his reaction.

_Maybe if he left without you it's because he didn't want you..._

\- "Hmmm... You shouldn't leave a lady alone at a gala after dancing with her, unless you're Cinderella..." - Raven grumbled, crossing her arms. - "Especially to let her come after you in a cold night like this... But... - Raven raised her eyebrow - "For a cute kitten like this I would also leave you..."

\- "You can go back to the party..." - He grunted without looking at her - "I... I don't want to go back"

\- "Hmmm... No..." - She sat next to him - "Better not... I don't want to be alone in a party full of people I don't know..."

\- "You have your friends... You will not be alone..."

\- "Well... Rose is with one of your brothers, Tara and Gar are doing something I probably don't want to participate in and Joey was talking to a guy and I don't want to be a chandelier near him to take care of..." - She laughed - "And you invited me, if my host is not at the party then, I don't fit in the party... Especially with all those girls wanting me to choke because i came around with you..."

\- "Hmmm..." - He took a deep breath - "Okay... You... You can stay here... But... Silently... Alfred is resting from this infernal noise of this party and these fireworks..."

\- "Ahnnn... Good...!" - Raven said with a touch of irony - "Thank you for... This? I think…" - She reached out and stroked the black cat with white spots that had its head lying on Damian's thigh. For a brief second, the two young's fingers brushed and Raven pulled her hand instantly, as if shocked.

She had had a feeling that a spark of electricity ran between their fingers and she felt so much in a few seconds... It was strange, but it wasn't the first time she felt that electricity run between them and it wasn't the first time that she felt everything at the same time touching another person.

\- "So..." - she murmured without looking at him. - "What happened?"

\- "You really don't know the meaning of 'silence'..." Damian muttered rolling his eyes.

\- "Uh, I know what silence means, you idiot... But I'm sure Alfred isn't bothered by the noise of the party... He's helping, even..."

\- "Uhnn?" - Damian looked at her without understanding and then snorted - "I'm not talking about Pennyworth... I'm talking about Alfred the cat..." - He pointed with his finger to the cat in his lap.

\- "Ah ....!" - Raven raised both eyebrows and then laughed. "Wait, is your cat named Alfred?"

\- "Mr. Alfred the cat... And... Yes...?" - He muttered as if saying something too obvious - "Pennyworth gave him to me so, I thought it was worth it to have a decent name..."

\- "Ah..." - Raven still laughing, with both hands in her mouth - "Well... Now understanding and knowing Mr. Alfred the cat, I admit it suits him... Look at that stain on his chest looks like a white button-down shirt and black hair looks like a jacket... And like every good cat, he has big mustaches... He looks just like Alfred" - Raven said laughing - "But... I would put on a tie so he would look identical..." - Raven pouted her lips and that made Damian laugh.

_Oh... Progress..._

\- "That is... The worst remark anyone made about Alfred..." - Damian grunted laughing

\- "Ah, come on...? It wasn't too bad…" - Raven laughed, patting Damian's shoulder, rolling her eyes. They laughed a few more minutes before everything went silent again. - "So... What's happening?"

\- "About...?"

\- "Don't play dumb, Wayne..." - She tilted her head to the side. - "You know what I'm talking about..." Damian took a deep breath, the grimace returning to his face.

\- "It's nothing..." - He murmured, turning his attention to the cat - "Nothing at all..."

\- "Got it ... Family issues I can't know... Storm coming?"

\- "Hmmm... No..." - Damian looked back at her - "Why?"

\- "Well... I'm a good observer..."

\- "Good observer?"

\- "Yes..." - She smiled, pressing her lips in a thin line - "And I know what's going on in your head when that happens... Believe me..."

\- "What are you talking about?"

\- "You know..." - Raven took a deep breath. - "I mean, this is stupid and I shouldn't be here talking to you because this is clearly a personal matter that we haven't reached the level yet, but... I also know from my friend code and the weird sixth sense I have that you need to talk to someone before you blow up..."

\- "I don't need to talk..."

\- "So it all became shit for no apparent reason after you got a stepmother? Okay... - Raven grimaced - "Let's be honest, Damian, you're pissed... You got a stepmother and you don't want her to be your stepmother, you want your mother with your family..."

\- "You make it sound selfish..."

\- "I know..." - She took a deep breath - "But it's not... I think... Look, I also had a stepfather and god knows how much I hated him and I had to live with him and he was ridiculous... So I really tell the truth when I say I know what you're feeling and it's normal to dislike change or feel threatened or jealous... And I know that talking to someone who understands help..."

\- "I don't hate Kyle..." - He arched an eyebrow.

\- "No?"

\- "No..."

\- "So...?"

\- "I'm not the biggest enthusiast for her to join my family either... I know her, I don't know what the real intentions of someone like her in my family... It's complicated..."

\- "Family affair I shouldn't know, I see..." - Raven nodded. - "But, if she's a bad person then, you should say to your family..."

\- "I don't know if she's really a bad person, Raven... I just know some things from her past..."

\- "First, you have to get it out of your head that there are good people and bad people... We're all a little good and a little bit bad inside... It's the life... I bet you did something wrong on past... And secondly, you need to stop playing the FBI agent and investigate people's lives and past, this will still spawn a lawsuit against your father and you..." - Raven grunted holding back the laugh and then just leaned against the bench - "Okay, help me understand, so if you don't feel a deep hatred for her, what's the matter?"

\- "I don't know... I knew about the engagement, my father warned us months ago but it didn't look like something real... And then, I think about all this and I remember my mother... I don't know, I-I just get angry and I don't know why honestly..."

\- "You must miss her so much..."

\- "Not really..." - He laughed embarrassed

\- "Uhnnn... Okay, you're super confused... But... I think I can understand..."

\- "I just... I didn't want to be there..." - He took a deep breath, slowly letting out his breath as he stared straight ahead. Raven could see the small crease between his eyebrows soften as if he knocked over a barrier.

\- "Then just go somewhere else..." - Raven murmured - "If you want some quietness to put everything in order is not caressing a cat a few meters away from all the noise that will help you see everything from another perspective..."

\- "And how would I just get out of here?"

\- "Look, you're a rich guy and you probably have everything in your hands right now... You don't want to be here? Fine... So just go somewhere else..." - Raven shrugged - "You said the party was over and you always left these dances..."

Damian nodded slowly and took a deep breath. He could really get out and take a walk around Gotham, maybe punching someone would or maybe just sitting alone in some deserted place away from it would help.

\- "You're right..."

\- "I'm always right... It's my super power," - Raven grunted, smiling as Damian set the cat on the floor and stood, extending his hand to help her get up. - "I'll cover you up..." - Raven laughed - "But you'll owe me one..."

\- "I doubt anyone notices I'm missing..." - He grunted, putting his hands in his pocket.

\- "Your brothers will notice, you know that..."

\- "Yeah... Maybe if they're not too busy with girls..."

\- "You're their baby... Of course they will notice even if they are busy with girls..."

\- "I'm not a baby...!"

\- "You pout like a baby when they start pissing you off so I have my doubts..."

\- "Shut up..."

\- "Okay" - Raven muttered laughing - "Hmm... Anyway, I'll cover you... I'll come back because soon they will come after us and you know... - She started walking away from Damian - "Jason wants win a bet..."

\- "Hmmm... Okay..."

\- "Do something crazy and outlaw, bad boy..." - She laughed and pointed her finger at him - "But not so outlawed, okay? I don't want to be accused of bad influence... I'm too good for that..."

\- "Okay..." - He smiled, looking down

\- "See you tomorrow, Damian..." - He took a deep breath and Raven turned her back to walk toward the party.

\- "Hmm... Raven..." - Damian's voice sounded behind her. Raven turned slowly to find him with his tuxedo slung over his shoulder and an amused smile on his lips. - "Wouldn't you, I don't know, go with me?"

\- "What?"

\- "Yeah, you know..." - He swayed on his heels - "Maybe I don't want to be completely alone... Maybe I ... Want someone to talk to... And... You're good at this..."

\- "Ahnnn..." - Raven looked at Damian for long seconds and then smiled.

To be honest, she was a little grateful that he had invited her out with him. She knew she was going back to that ball and being eaten alive by the looks and questions about her and Damian or would end up locking herself in her room and going to sleep.

But why did she feel nervous of going out with him alone? And why did she feel strangely hot hearing him say he wanted her company?

Raven took a deep breath and nodded slowly as she crossed her arms.

\- "Hmmm... Are you sure? I mean, I'm not as good a company as I seem... And my advice is not that good..."

\- "You're the only person I would want with me if I ran away from here, so... I'm sure..."

\- "Ahnn..." - Raven licked her bottom lip and laughed. - "You're not trying to flirt with me, are you?"

\- "What? Of course not why? Do... Do you want me to... Flirt with you?"

\- "NO!" - Raven's voice rose an octave. - "No... I just... I don't want to misunderstand things..." - She muttered under her breath.

\- "Ahnn... Of course... Eh... It's a friendly invitation and that's all..."

\- "Ahnn..." - Raven frowned frowning - So ... Okay ... - She walked back toward him again - "But... You owe me a snack..." - She laughed - "And you'll pay the taxi..."

\- "And who says we're going by taxi?" - He grinned, reaching for Raven, who held tightly as she was pulled toward the back of the mansion.

\- "Oh... Wait, what?" - Raven almost shouted in surprise as she was pulled toward what appeared to be an underground staircase. - "What are you talking about?"

\- "You told me to do something crazy..." - He sounded euphoric, turning on the lights in the hall that stretched in front of her. As the lights came on, Raven saw a collection of shiny luxury cars in front of her, about 9 or 10 cars.

\- "Damian..." - she muttered, paralyzed. - "You're not thinking of stealing a car from your father, are you?"

\- "No..." - He replied smiling as he walked into the hall. Raven was still paralyzed in the same spot, but breathed a sigh of relief. She had imagined several scenarios involving stealing a car from Bruce Wayne and in all of them she ended up with her aunt Alice looking for her in jail - "A car from my father? No... But..." - He was sitting on a blood-red shiny motorcycle, holding his helmet for Raven. Why did she think this was so... _sexy_? Raven shook her head at those thoughts. - "I think Jason deserves a punishment for being an idiot all the time."

\- "Did you hit your head? Lost track? Are you fucking crazy??"

\- "No..." - He laughed

\- "I will not get into it with you..."

\- "I can drive..." - He grunted rolling his eyes - "Come on, get on the back... Nothing bad will happen to you, I told you..."

\- "There's only one helmet..."

\- "And you will use it..."

\- "And you?"

\- "No problem... Believe me, I've been in more dangerous situations than riding a motorcycle without a helmet..." - He took a deep breath - "Trust me, Raven... Nothing will happen to you... I'll protect you..."

Raven took a deep breath and bit her lip, unsure what to do.

When she suggested that he should do something outlawed or crazy, she wasn't suggesting stealing a motorcycle and driving without a helmet around... She was at most suggesting going crazy about something or getting a fight in one place. But she had a part of her, deep in her chest, that seemed to want to feel that adrenaline in her vein.

She was always really ruled with her life, always walking into what she thought was right, always avoiding trouble, always was afraid. She didn't want to be like her mother, and since Angela had left her at Aunt Alice's house and never returned, Raven promised herself she wouldn't be like Angela.

But, she was a teenager like any other 17 year old and she wanted to know what it was like to be a little irresponsible at least once in her life.

She wanted, deep down, to feel the wind in her hair and the taste of freedom on her lips...

\- "Okay... Okay... But if Jason finds out or if we end up in police station I'll tell them that you made me do this..." - Raven snorted and walked over to him, taking the helmet from Damian's hands. He laughed and handed her the tuxedo.

\- "Put on my coat... The night is very cold and you're bare shoulders..." - He grunted with a shrug

\- "I'm more worried about how I'm really going to balance this thing with a dress and heels... But okay..."

\- "It's like riding a bicycle..." - Raven tucked the helmet lock under her chin and put on Damian's tuxedo, it was warm, soft and comforting. She mentally controlled not to hug herself, wrapped in that warm sensation that came from the warmth of his coat. Raven bit her lip, gripped the hem of her dress at her thigh, and sat on the bike just behind Damian and at the same instant, her heart thudded against her chest. Raven felt Damian's shoulders tense as he started the bike, the engine growling beneath them.

\- "Hmmm... I... I need... You need to hold me like this, okay?..." - He held Raven's arms around his waist, like a hug behind his back.

\- "God help me..." - Raven murmured leaning the forehead of the helmet on Damian's back - "Hmmm... Okay... Hold... Got it..."

\- "Are you... are you ready?" - The engine growled again

Raven took a deep breath, and nodded with her eyes closed and her hands clenched against his shirt. It was the signal Damian needed, and with a slight thrust of his foot, Raven felt her surroundings moving.

\- _"OhmyGOD!"_ \- she murmured, feeling the wind hit her hands and swing the hem of her dress. She didn't have the heart to look, she was sure that if she looked at the rapidly passing trees, she would feel sick and dizzy.

She didn't need it

Raven felt the ground shift at her feet, and her only reaction was a thin, high-pitched scream as Damian sped up as the ground shifted uphill and there were sounds of running water. Raven looked quickly and somehow she was leaving on the other side of the lake.

\- "Are you fucking kidding me?" - She shouted, drawing a laugh from Damian. - "An underground cave under the fucking lake?"

\- "My father likes to build things in underground caves... You haven't even seen half of them..." - Damian laughed and walked off the gravel path, falling down a stone path that led to a huge gate that was closed. Raven dared to look quickly, watching the road stretch and the gate still closed as they approached.

\- "Damian, what are you going to do...?" - Raven murmured... She was now shivering, at that speed if they hit that gate, she would go back to San Francisco in a matchbox - "DAMIAN WE'LL HIT THE GATE!!" - Raven screamed hiding her face already expecting the impact that never came, on the contrary, the gate gave in willingly, opening with a bip just as they approached.

If she hadn't been holding on as if her life depended on it, she would have slapped Damian right there.

Raven didn't want to look, she had her eyes closed as she gripped Damian's shirt so tightly she felt she could tear it into her hands. Damian drove in silence for a long time and only turned his attention to her as Gotham stretched brightly in front of them.

\- "Open your eyes..."

\- "No way..."

\- "Seriously, it will be the only time you will see Gotham a little more pretty, open your eyes..."

\- "If we're about to hit something else that could kill us, I'll push you off this motorcycle, Wayne..."

\- "Trust me..." - Raven took a deep breath and opened her eyes, seeing the gray city illuminated by buildings with lit windows and some flashing Christmas lights. It was really beautiful and at the same time dark. There was an aura of coldness in those concretes, something that inspired fear.

It was no wonder that half of the nation's crazy people were concentrated in this place, and that included a crazy guy dressed in a bat and going around punching bad guys.

\- "So... Where are we going?"

\- "Eat something..." - She murmured - "I need a real bad food, something greasy and very artificial... Seriously, canape is horrible..."

\- "Okay..." - He grinned and turned around the first corner and Raven, now brave enough not to close her eyes caught watching Damian. His hair, which had been carefully tied back, had loose strands swaying in the wind that beat hard in his face. He was paying attention to the way and Raven could see small details in his features, the small crease between his eyebrows were there, as well as his serious gaze as he checked the way.

He slowed as they approached a more commercial part of the city, until it came to a complete stop in front of a fast food chain with huge posters advertising Batman products...

_Seriously, this city was crazy..._

Raven had to take a few deep breaths before releasing Damian's shirt and getting off the bike, parked in a large parking lot.

\- "You love this Batman, don't you?" - She grunted laughing and Damian rolled his eyes, helping her take off the helmet - "Awwn they come with Bat toys...! I think I'll want one that comes with toys..."

\- "That's stupid..." - He arched an eyebrow.

\- "What? Have you never wanted to be a super hero? Or played with dolls?

\- "No..." - Damian shrugged and Raven didn't understand if he was serious or if he was using irony... She was good at understanding sarcasm, but Damian was apparently a puzzle to her.

\- "Hmmm... Okay, there'll be two with Batman toys, so... And you'll pay because we left so fast I didn't get my purse..." - He looked at Raven for a long second and then shrugged, a smile on the corner of his lips, turning toward the establishment. Raven followed him, still trying to get her legs back to normal.... Now she felt a little embarrassed, she had held on so tightly to Damian that even her legs were hooks...

And her legs were strange now

Like all the rest of her body

Raven sat on a bench while Damian went to the cashier to place their orders. The place was empty, probably the workers wanted to kill the two teenagers who went shopping for food in their party clothes almost 12:00.

Raven took a deep breath and put her hand on her forehead, shit... She had forgotten her cell phone in the mansion, to be precise, inside Stephanie's purse. If something happened, she would be incommunicado.

Damian apparently, on the contrary, was always cautious. He took his wallet out of a pocket and a $100, leaving the change as a tip to the cashier boy who had wide-eyed, looking at the boy who, grumpy, grabbed his snack bags and walked toward to Raven.

\- "I thought we'd sit here to eat and talk..."

\- "And risk someone finding us and telling someone at the ball? No..." - He murmured - "This franchise is parte of Wayne Enterprise, I don't want them to see us here..."

\- "So..." - Raven got up and walked back beside him toward the motorcycle. - "Where are we going? Half of the buildings in this place are your father's and the other half are named after your father's relative... It's kind of hard to hide from him around here..."

\- "I... I have an idea..." - He grunted without looking at her - "But you need to trust me and not scream..."

\- "Damian..."

\- "Come on..." -he murmured, ignoring Raven with her arms crossed and her face shocked looking at him

\- "I'm warning you, Damian, if I end the night at a police station, I'll end you!"

\- "Relax..." - He rolled his eyes, handing the helmet and bags with snacks to Raven - "Be careful not to make a sandwich mash while holding my shirt..."

\- "I'll make an mash your stupid face..." - Raven rolled her eyes, sitting back on the bike as she held around Damian with one hand.

She was sure her legs would tense more now that she would use them to hold on his waist.

Damian made sure she was all right and safe before starting the motorcycle again and driving toward the tallest and most distant buildings, almost on the edge of town, in a part where probably all the rich and extravagant guys lived...

Raven took a deep breath, feeling the cool, cool air whip against her hair. She began to feel less frightened and more peaceful, the adrenaline still running through her veins and making her heart and mind beat faster. Making her feel alive.

It was good to feel alive.

Damian drove fast, taking advantage of the gap in a garage door that was open to a mansion as large as his own. He slowed to the back where there was a mirrored extension of a deck, much larger than her house. Raven felt dizzy as she looked into the darkness, there was very little light inside the mirrored structure, just enough to show that it was a covered play area, probably with a pool and chairs and a high vaulted glass ceiling, but she figured it was somehow property of his family. Damian just pushed the bike and hid it in a blind spot and turned to Raven, tucking his lock of hair behind his ear.

\- "Do you have a hairpin?"

\- "Ahnnn..." - Raven grimaced - "What?"

\- "A hairpin..." - He grunted, green eyes behind big lashes scanning Raven's long side braid. She handed him the bag of snacks and fiddled with her hair, pulling out a hairpin that was holding a small lock in place and handing it to Damian.

\- "What are you going to do with a hairpin?"

\- "Unlock the door of this area..."

\- "Ah... Wait, what?" 

\- "I think I can do with a hairpin... Is a simple lock and not too complicated, I unlock this door and we enter here and then, when you are sleepy, we will leave and no one will know we were here..."

\- "Don't you have the key?"

\- "And why would I have?"

\- "I don't know, isn't it your father's property?"

\- "No, of course not..."

\- "What?"

\- "Yeah... Is from a... _Friend_..."

\- "Are we going to break into a house? Damian, wait a minute... ARE WE GOING TO BREAK INTO A FUCKING HOUSE?"

\- "Relax Raven..." - He muttered - "First, they are not from here, this building is practically empty... Second, they are all at the ball, I saw them there and probably they'll go back to Star City and third, you said to do something crazy... We are doing..."

\- "First, I told to **you** do something crazy, not me!" - Raven grunted under her breath. - "Second, I thought stealing a motorcycle was crazy enough!"

\- "I didn't steal Todd's bike... I borrowed it... It's different..."

\- "You don't borrow something without asking permission first!"

\- "I told you not to freak out, did you? That there is no one here, but maybe there is a janitor or something and if you keep yelling, he'll find us" - He grunted, opening a service door with the clip - "Come on, no one will see us... Or would you rather stay out there?"

Raven snorted and came in and muttered under her breath that if anyone found out she would kill him and throw it into Gotham's sewer. Since she was there, she better come in than sit in the doorway waiting for someone to show up... Or something worse.

The place was huge and dark, the only illumination coming from was the starry night high on the ceiling and the lights from inside the pool, Raven cursed a few times for bumping into some things as she sidled up, with Damian holding a laugh behind her, sometimes holding her so she wouldn't fall. She could only think of why he was taking her there and how likely someone would find them breaking into someone's house.

She bit her lip looking at the pool in front of her, it was uncovered, lit with a bluish light, and there was steam coming out of it, due to the shock of Gotham's cold night and the heat of the water that was probably heated. It meant that the place wasn't really empty like Damian had said.

\- _"Ta-Da!"_ \- Damian grumbled behind her, sacking the snacks on a beach table. He wasn't sure why he had really decided to run to that house, he could have gone to the Wayne Foundation Penthouse, there was also a pool and... _Whatever_ they needed... And he wouldn't have to break into the house in order to log in.

But when Raven told him to do something crazy and outlawed, he remembered what she had said one day when they were in San Francisco, one of several times they just sat in the stands and talked. Raven had said that if there was a cliché of the wrong things she might want to do, it was to break into a swimming pool from a empty home.

This house belonged to the Queen family, and as far as Damian knew, it was deserted.

\- "I still can't believe we broke into a house..." - Raven pinched the bridge of her nose. - "I don't know, are we breaking 50 laws?" - She turned to him. - "What if someone saw us coming in here? What if someone calls the police? For God's sake, what if someone calls Batman? Look, I don't want to be arrested..."

\- "Raven can you calm down? Please?"

\- "I can't calm down knowing I'm in danger of having a bat-clad guy behind me... I don't want to go to Arkham..." - Damian had his head tilted and held his laughter as he looked at Raven, seeming to find it so much fun - "What are you laughing at?"

\- "Are you afraid of Batman? Seriously?"

\- "I'm not afraid of Batman... It's just that I don't want a madman behind me... Aren't you afraid of him coming after you?"

\- "No..." - He laughed and shrugged - "He won't come, believe me... And... For God's sake Raven, you're not going to Arkham for breaking into a pool..."

\- "I don't want to be arrested, to be precise..."

\- "And you're not going to be arrested Raven, this is not going to happen..." - He rolled his eyes - "You said one day that was the madness you would do if you were a bad girl..."

\- "I didn't think of a mansion in Gotham when I said that." - She took a deep breath. - "Whose house is this?"

\- "I said, from a friend..." - He grunted undoing the bow tie knot - "A family friend, okay? And he doesn't live here in Gotham and I know he doesn't come here unless it's for business or for vacations..."

\- "And you, for some super weird reason, know he's not in any of the situations..."

\- "Exactly..." - He smiled. - _"Do something crazy or outlaw, Raven..."_ \- he said, imitating her voice almost perfectly.

And that was annoying

\- "I'll do it if you don't stop imitating me... Maybe they'll find you drowned next time you come here..." - He rolled his eyes laughing and walked over to her as he unbuttoned his white shirt. - "What are you doing?"

\- "What you do in a pool, uh..." - He threw the shirt in a corner near the pool, but far from the perimeter where it could get wet - "Believe me, you would rather enter without this heavy dress..." - She opened her mouth to retort, but closed it again feeling her cheeks burn and slapped him hard enough to crack all over the room - "Ouch! Hey! What... What? This hurt!"

\- "Fuck you... Oh god... No, no, no, no, no..." - Raven walked back away from the pool as Damian massaged his chin. Raven was small and didn't really look as strong as she was. Damian was sure his face had the 5-finger mark now and he didn't even understand why - "I'm not going to steal a bike, break into a house and swim undressed with a boy the same night... No... No fucking way..."

Damian looked at her seriously and then opened his mouth and then closed it again.

\- "What? I didn't tell you to swim naked!"

\- "You said..."

\- "I suggested that you take off your dress if you wanted to get in the pool... Not that you get naked!" - Damian felt his cheek burn and now he honestly couldn't tell if it was because of the slap. - "What do you think I was wanOh..." - Damian didn't finish the sentence. His own brain answered him earlier. He closed his eyes and then raised his hands in surrender - "No... You.... I'm not suggesting this... I just... I said without thinking, okay?" - He took a deep breath and took Raven's shoulders - "I'm sorry... I... Just... I didn't think..."

\- "Hmmm..."

\- "I... I just thought this dress soaked is going to get too heavy..." - Damian took a deep breath again - "I wasn't... I wasn't planning what you're thinking... I swear..."

Raven took a deep breath and crossed her arms, looking at everything but Damian in front of her, just wearing a T-shirt and pants. Her heart was pounding strangely in her chest and she didn't like it. Sore and fast.

She took a deep breath and rolled her eyes, considering the possibilities. Okay, it was a pool and that annoying and irresponsible part of her was screaming deep in her mind and she felt anxiety tearing at her skin. And despite Stephanie's efforts to make her wear a sexy lingerie, Raven was comfortably in her _nearshorts_ panties, but with no protection for the top. If she took it out there, she would be _too exposed_.

And she still remembered what had happened the last time they had met in a dark, lonely place... She still felt the ghost of his hand slowly rising up her ribs.

She could just sit on the edge with her feet in the water as she ate and getting dressed in something comfortable like a big shirt seemed quite inviting now.

\- "Okay..." - She muttered softly, defeated - "But I'll wear your shirt... I'm not... I'm not dressed for it..." - She uncrossed her arms, looking to the side - "And you'll be on your back..."

\- "Hmmm... Okay..." - He raised his hands and spun on his heel, his back to her. Raven wet her lip and took a deep breath as she tried to organize her mind into what she was about to do. She pulled her shiny hairpins out of her braid and then took off her heels, letting her feet get used to the stone floor. Raven unbuttoned his tuxedo she was still wearing and picked up the white blouse on the floor, dressing her over her dress. Raven felt her hands shake too much as they slid down the side of her dress, loosening the hook, pulling the zipper down. Damian swayed on his heel as if impatient, his hands drumming against his waist.

Damian tried not to think too much, he heard the zipper clatter and then the dress being tossed to the floor and his mind threatened to travel to too many forbidden lands. He was trying to force his mind to focus only on the heat and sting that was still throbbing in his cheek; he didn't need another slap from Raven if that accident happened.

\- "Done..." - Her voice sounded behind him and Damian turned slowly holding his breath. Why was Raven so... pretty? It was _annoying_! He still found her very pretty even with her hair a little messy and wearing his shirt that covered her thigh almost completely. She seemed to notice Damian's penetrating gaze on her and made a sound with her throat, pulling him into the reality where they were… _friends_… again, before rolling his eyes.

\- "Hmm..." - He grunted and walked back away from her as he went to the edge of the pool, avoiding looking at Raven.

\- "Where's the sandwich? I'm really hungry..."

\- "Aren't you going to get in the water?"

\- "I think getting your feet wet is enough..."

\- "What? Of course not..."

\- "I won't go into the pool completely..."

\- "Why?"

\- "Why not..."

\- "What's it? You don't want to wet your hair?"

\- "Shut up Damian..."

\- "Or are you afraid?" - He laughed. - "What is it, Raven?" Are you really afraid of swimming?"

\- "Me? Afraid to swim? Don't make me laugh, Damian...."

\- "You are afraid!"

\- "I'm not...!" - Raven rolled her eyes - "I just don't want to get my underwear wet too... Simple as that..."

\- "Bullshit!" - Damian grunted laughing and before Raven could ask what he was planning, she felt Damian's hands grasp her arm and give a slight push, Raven's body unbalanced, threatening to fall into the water and she instinctively held Damian's arms hard. The two fell with a loud splash into the water, completely wetting them both as they plunged into a profusion of water bubbles and foam.

The pool was deeper than it looked, and Raven found herself using all her strength to emerge searching for air. Damian emerged soon after, wiping the water from his face with his hands as he laughed at the situation.

Raven grunted between her teeth and leaned hard against his shoulders, pushing him down again. Did he want to be the element of surprise? She could do that too.

A few seconds underwater would take that stupid smile off his face.

When she released Damian's shoulder a few seconds later, Raven felt her heart stop.

Damian didn't emerge again; on the contrary, he remained underwater, unresponsive. Raven began to mentally tell if she had actually held him for more than 20 seconds.

\- "Fuck..." - Raven muttered to herself, diving back to catch Damian. She thought of the consequences of her stealing a motorcycle, breaking into a house and killing the son of a billionaire.

With luck, she would be sentenced to death.

Raven wrapped her arm around Damian's waist, pulling him up again. Her plan was to just pull him to the surface and then, with great difficulty, pull him to the edge of the pool and try to make him spit the water he had swallowed, but before she did all the work of pulling him out of the pool, Damian opened his eyes and began to laugh, the sound filling the whole place and making Raven's blood boil more than water.

He fooled her

And she fell like a duck… Her heart was still pounding at the thought that he might have been hurt by a joke she had done without thinking.

\- "That... That was... It was cute..." - He grunted still laughing, wiping the water from his face

\- "Cute? I thought you drowned!"

\- "Raven, did you really think I had drowned pushing myself for 15 seconds?" - He still laughed - "But it was cute..."

\- "Yeah, I thought..." - She grunted in a bad mood - "That... That was a bad joke, idiot... What kind of sick joke was that?"

\- "You wanted to scare me, so I scared you..." - He laughed

\- "You're an idiot, Damian... That's what you are..." - Raven threw water at him.

\- "Hey, Raven... Easy, I'm sorry, okay?"

\- "Sorry my ass, Damian... Fuck you... I'm out..."

\- "What? Raven, wait..."

\- "You're still spoiled, childish and stupid so I'm out!"

\- "And you're a bad temper..."

\- "Me?" - Raven's eyes were wide - "I thought I had hurted you!" - Raven practically screamed, tapping her index finger against his shoulder - "That was a bad joke and you're an idiot..."

\- "I know and I've already apologized... But you're grumpy!"

\- "Idiot... You're stupid and I don't know why I accepted it all... You're still the usual idiot"

\- "You're still the untamed shrew ever...!"

\- "Stupid!"

\- "Grumpy"

\- "Childish!"

\- "Witch!"

\- "I hate you!"

\- "But I don't hate you!" - Damian growled through his teeth, his eyes locked on her lips, trying to remember what their taste would be like now. Raven had her eyes locked on Damian's, trying to remember that she was fighting with him. Silence filled the entire space around them, and the only thing that could be heard between them was the sound of water hitting their bodies and their breaths too loud - "I can't hate you..."

\- "..." - Raven blinked twice, feeling her heart ache. She hadn't realized how close they were to each other and how she could feel Damian's heart beating fast under her hand. 

Her head was confused and she could only stare at his lips no more than inches from her and the scent of cinnamon making her dizzy. Raven thought of several things, what might happen if she just melted on his lips, alone in a pool with him under the starlight, and if she could get out of it later, Damian stared at her, keeping in his mind every detail of her face as long as he could, seeming to weigh the pros and cons of just capturing Raven's soft, dark, warm lips on his...

In a sudden movement even to himself, Damian tilted his face, closing the distance between them, capturing Raven's lips on his in a stolen kiss that he didn't know he needed but seemed right to do. He felt his chest in pain, his heart grow and double in size, and all his nerves spontaneously combust in the same instant. It was as if he had found the cure for all his pains the moment his lips met hers. After months of just feeling like he wanted to do that, he now just wanted everything around them to stop forever.

And with the same weight as an anvil, reason hit his head. He shouldn't kiss her, he swore he wouldn't kiss her again and they were friends... 

_Friends didn't kiss..._

He reluctantly turned away from her, seeing her eyes slowly open, as blue as the pool lights.

\- "I'm sorry..." - He whispered, his forehead against hers - "I di-..."

\- "Fuck this" - Raven growled, cutting off any explanation he was going to give and before he questioned, her lips were against his again, silencing what he intended to say.

Damian felt everything and nothing at the same time. He could feel exploding stars and fireworks, could feel his heart beating fast against his chest and his brain turning upside down and he could taste the vanilla he thought he shouldn't taste coming from her lips. Her hands had slipped to his chest, holding the collar of his T-shirt as she pulled him close to her, deepening the kiss. They both felt as if the world had stopped spinning and nothing mattered, nothing else but her lips against his, his hands on her waist, sliding to her back as he pinned her against the edge of the pool and the sound of stolen kisses, panting breaths and where it might end.

Damian felt as if his skin were on fire and not even the pool water could extinguish, Raven was a poison he seemed to enjoy trying and he didn't remember enjoying so much being lost in a galaxy of vanilla and lavender.

Nothing mattered anymore...

Nothing out there mattered anymore...

Just Raven and her vicious vanilla lips...

Damian stole another kiss and pulled back a little and Raven tilted her head to the side, giving him room to kiss Raven's neck and jaw until he felt himself being watched. His sensors and paranoia were turning off again as he went to get more kisses from Raven but she no longer seemed in the mood for kisses, in fact, Raven looked like she had seen a haunt in front of her, her eyes wide and her cheeks red.

Damian followed her gaze to understand what was going on, a little girl no older than eight, dark hair and drawn eyes was standing near where Raven's dress was tucked, holding the leg of a tall, strong man with red hair that he recognized right away.

_Roy Harper_

\- "Daddy, why are there a girl and a boy in our pool? Oh! It's Damian! Uncle Jay's and Uncle Dick's brother!"

\- "We'll find out, Lian... I'm sure Damian has a great explanation to give us, isn't it, Damian...? We'll find out ...."


	17. Chapter 17

Raven took a deep breath sitting on the edge of the pool trying to get her own thoughts in order. Everything was turned upside down in her mind and she couldn't process it properly.

Had she really run away on a motorcycle with the boy she supposedly didn't like? And had she broken into a house and fallen into the pool wearing only a white button-down shirt and panties? It all really happened to her and now she was here, trying not to blush when the silence of the place made a echo in her mind a lot of questions that she couldn't answer?

Oh gods, Damian had really kissed her again and worse, she had liked it... And a lot. She had liked it so much that when he tried to explain himself and walk away, she pulled him back...

She kissed him  
She wanted to kiss him  
She wanted more than just kissing him...

Raven felt her heart speed up again, what was that all about? Where in the world would she want to kiss Damian Wayne? And worse, where in the world would she pull his lips to hers? She wanted to hit her head on the floor enough times to get things back to normal. None of that should have happened, that kiss shouldn't have happened... None of them should have happened.

She and Damian shouldn't happen, he wasn't good for her, they were different, they just didn't make sense together...

She kept repeating and repeating this to herself every day since they kissed at that party, even though she always, for some reason ended up in his arms most of the time and when it didn't happen, she felt strange and empty, as if something was missing.

And they had those sensations

That voice saying to get carried away in the back of her mind, that warmth in her chest that always had her whole body and making her hot, and even though her mind and reason always told her that they shouldn't be kissing, Raven still felt her heart beat fast and aching against her chest every time he looked into her eyes, making her feel naked and unprotected.

Raven shook her head again, she shouldn't be questioning it now, she shouldn't be wondering what it was now...

They shouldn't happen  
They were like water and oil  
She was a radar to avoid problems and he was a renegade  
She was careful and he was a unafraid  
They shouldn't be a thing...

And yet, Raven found himself repeating the way he said her name when she was alone in her room every night.

Raven bit the inside of her mouth harder, trying to stop thinking about it all and just focus on the way she was caught in the act by a man she didn't know and was now looking at them both with curiosity.

But it was almost impossible not to feel it all when she remembered that she still had the feeling of Damian's warm arms around her and how she felt his heart beat under her fingertips and how those beats mixed with her own heartbeats. Inside her, that annoying voice screamed for more, and she didn't know what it could all mean.

She didn't want to think about what all of these things could mean.

\- "Harper..." - Damian's voice pulled her out of her thought bubble and everything got worse. Damian had left the pool and was walking towards the red-haired man, his shirt was soaked and glued against his body and his hair was almost all loose, the strands falling carelessly framing his face as drops of water ran down the ends of the strands and fall on his face and shoulders. Damian looked like he was an Adonis...It was suddenly too hard to breathe and she had to remind herself how to do it.

Raven instinctively dug her nails into her knee looking away... Why was she feeling all this?

\- "Damian..." - The man grunted crossing his arms while looking at Damian with a puzzled smile on the corner of his lips, as if thinking about how to torture them both and Raven suddenly felt all her senses go into red alert.

He would call Batman...

\- "I thought you would be at the ball... I thought I saw you with Emiko..."

\- "And then you thought it would be a good idea to break into the house with your girlfriend?"

\- "She's not my girlfriend"

\- "I'm not his girlfriend" - Both said at the same time, causing a laugh from the man

\- "Well, you looked like lovers a few minutes ago..." - He looked at Raven and then looked at Damian - "Anyway, I didn't go to that ball... And that doesn't explain what you are doing here..." - He arched the eyebrow

\- "It's... complicated..." - Damian grunted, trying to look away

\- "If you say..." - the man shrugged - "But, it's still not an excuse to break into a house... And I'm not even going to ask how you did it because of your clan I expect everything..." - He took a deep breath - "But I need explanations... So, I'll get dry towels for you to dry and then we'll sit in the kitchen and talk about it all..."

Raven took a deep breath and put her hands on her face, wanting to disappear. This was exactly the kind of problem she was afraid of. She had been caught in the act by a little girl who had seen her kiss Damian before and to made it worse, was from the family of a girl who seemed to hate her at school... If there was one more way things could go wrong that night, Raven preferred the earth to swallow her up at once.

Raven hadn't initially recognized Lian, the memories of that day had been locked in the back of her mind and Raven was doing her best to simply forget everything that had happened at that school fair. But now, Raven remembered the girl along with Mari'i and the twins who gave her and Damian a huge headache...

That meant that she knew a lot of Wayne ... And that soon, Raven would be the subject at breakfast for being caught with Damian kissing in a pool... Raven didn't even want to imagine when it came to Emiko Queen's ears...

Oh gods that sucked...

The man walked over to a closet not far from the entrance and removed some white towels and handed it to Lian to hand to Raven while he placed some towels in Damian's hands.

\- "Well, I'll give you a little privacy so that you can solve whatever you have to solve and take off those wet clothes while I put Lian on the bed..." - Damian rolled his eyes and looked at Raven who seemed paralyzed in panic - "Damian, since you are practically from this home to use the pool at this hour of the morning, you know where the kitchen is... After you are dry, you can go in, there is hot chocolate and I will see if I can get anything that suits you both to dress... And then I want to know exactly what's going on here and why you decided to invade this house..." - And before Damian could contest, Roy turned his back, taking the little girl in his lap and carrying it out. When he approached the door, he turned to the two of them again, as if remembering something - "And don't even think about running away... The gates are closed now... And it sure will make it worse if I call your dad right now to tell himthe news about you both... I bet your brothers will love to hear him scold you for breaking into someone's house, Damian..." - And then he closed the door again leaving Damian with his mouth open and Raven wanting run as fast as she could... She felt that if she started running now, she would only stop in San Francisco, where she could hide from everyone in her room.

After a few seconds or maybe minutes, the shock gave way to a mix of shame, anger and relief. Raven felt that she could dig a hole with her own hands to hide at the same time she felt that she could slap Damian for doing that and grateful for being interrupted, now she wondered how far she would let it happen and she didn't know if in any moment she would ask Damian to stop. Her heart missed a beat as she thought about the possibilities and she found herself having to remind herself how to breathe.

She definitely wouldn't ask him to stop and that was a problem.

Raven took a deep breath and decided to worry about it later, when she was alone in her room and could balance all that she felt alone and without Damian's intimidating look on her making her feel all those things again. It didn't help that he was there with his hair messy and completely wet. It didn't really help.

Damian was quietly a little distant from Raven, still standing in the place where he had talked to Roy and looking a little disconcerted, not knowing if he was looking in Raven's direction or just pretending she wasn't there. Things were still turned upside down in his mind since Raven had kissed him. He never expected her to do that, he never expected her to pull him into a kiss so eagerly and he didn't know what to do now. It's not like he's never been grabbed by a girl, but it was the first time he really liked being grabbed by a girl.

And it was the first time he wanted her to grab him more often.

Raven got up from the edge of the pool hugging the white towels as she walked towards where Damian was, she remained silent beside him, swaying on her heels as if she expected him to say something or do something, but Damian felt trapped in his universe itself. He really needed to seek medical help, it wasn't normal for him to feel so sick just for having her by his side.

For God's sake, he felt stupid that he couldn't get her by his side without his hands shaking and he lost his voice.

They were silent for what seemed like an eternity beside each other until Raven took a deep breath and decided to break the silence between them.

\- "Hm... Are you going... Are you going to use the towels or do you expect to dry yourself over time?" - Damian wanted to laugh

\- "Do you think he will wait...?" - Damian grunted wryly, looking at Raven out of the corner of his eye. She was a mess, but it was the most beautiful mess he had ever seen. Her black hair fell in a mess on her shoulder with a few strands coming out of her braid that looked ready to come undone at any moment. Raven's cheeks were pink against the pallor of her skin, lit only by the pool and moon lights. Damian tried his best to remember how to breathe, even though the wet mess she was, Raven still looked like a moon goddess.

This was too problematic and Damian didn't want to think about what it all could mean. He could only be sick and the cause appeared to be Raven. 

It didn't make any sense.

\- "Hmm..." - She bit her lower lip and Damian could hear his own senses burning instantly - "I don't think so..." - She smiled shyly - "He doesn't seem very willing to wait, but he's right too... And I'm freezing and you could end up getting a flu if you keep your clothes wet..."

\- "So I have no choice..."

\- "So let's do it like this... Let's keep our backs to each other..."

\- "Obviously..."

\- "Yes, obviously..." - Raven rolled her eyes - Continuing... We keep our backs to each other and then, we can take off those wet clothes..."

\- "Look, I'm fine with these wet clothes..." - Damian muttered with a shrug, throwing a towel around the back of his neck - I've been in worse situations than a wet suit... But you are cold and you need to warm up so don't worry about me... You don't need a super plan to change clothes near me... I can wait for you outside"

\- "I know you have all this stuff from the dark past and 'don't worry, I'm super immune to pain and illness' thing, but I honestly don't think you should have wet clothes... You aren't the super man, Damian..." - Damian laughed crookedly without intention... If Raven only knew that he knew perfectly the Superman's greatest weakness...

\- "I'm fine... You don't have to worry about me..."

\- "I don't need to, but for some stupid reason of stupid fate you are kind of a friend and... Even if you don't deserve it after what you pretended in the pool... I... I worry about you..." - Raven crossed his arms looking everywhere but at Damian, but he could see the small pink hue that rose up the back of Raven's neck, coloring her cheeks

\- "Hm..." - Damian scratched his throat without knowing how to answer. He knew she was sincere, he was surprised to see how she tried to save him in the pool and he could feel that she was being sincere about caring for him, but he also knew how she still felt about boys around her and he knew she was ignoring her own red alerts about changing around someone - "You're not comfortable with this..."

\- "You're right... I'm not... Maybe I'll never be comfortable with this..." - She took a deep breath and threw her hands up - "But I trust you..."

\- "Do you trust me...? Raven, you hated me until months ago... Trust needs time..."

\- "I'm still deciding if I stopped hating you, Damian..." - Raven grunted rolling his eyes - "But... I know you long enough to trust you... I've said it before and I say now..." - Raven crossed her arms - "I wouldn't leave San Francisco alone if I didn't trust you... And I wouldn't run away from a party full of people to break into a house in the middle of the night alone with you if I didn't trust you..." - Raven wet her lips and took a deep breath - "Let's turn our backs to each other okay? You face the pool, so you will see only your reflection and I face the glass window, so I see only my reflection..."

\- "You know you don't need it, right?"

\- "Shut the fuck up, Damian... Just keep your back and everything will be okay..." - Raven grunted rolling her eyes - "Just shut up, stay on your back and take off your stupid clothes... Simple as that..."

\- "Okay..." - Damian rolled his eyes and crossed his arms - "I'm going to take my clothes off... If you want this so bad, I'll take off this goddamn wet suit..."

\- "This sounded weird..." - Raven grunted holding her laugh

\- "Oh... Yes... Forget it..."

\- "Anyway... Don't look back and don't try anything strange..."

\- "I say the same..."

\- "As if I wanted to see you naked..."

\- "I say the same... It's not like I want to see you naked..."

\- "Great..."

\- "Great..." - Raven grunted, looking at Damian with a pouting lips and then slowly nodded and turned on her heels, facing away from him. They were silent for a considerable time and all that was heard was the distant sound of insects in the garden and the breaths of both teenagers.

After seconds of complete silence, Damian heard Raven curse something under her breath and then decided to look over his shoulder at where Raven was standing with her back to him, ready to ask what was going on, but quickly looked away. He definitely didn't need to have to live with that image stuck in his mind every night.

His mind did the job of creating images without him needing to... He didn't need any more incentives for that... In fact, he wanted this to stop happening.

Damian took a few deep breaths with his eyes closed, he could feel his heart missing the beat and the blood running through his veins and he needed to stop thinking about it before that happened, but as much as he thought about everything, nothing took away the little that he saw from his mind.

_Shit..._

It had been so fast, how could he remember so many details? How could he remember perfectly what he saw in a matter of seconds? Raven had her head down, worried too much about the buttons on the shirt she was wearing and swearing softly about the buttons being difficult to remove and how she didn't want to ruin a Gucci shirt and Damian could already see a good part of the extension of her back, decorated with the dark strands of her hair that were now loose.

Damian felt his body waking up and reacting to the vision, which was terrible... This wasn't the time for this and he would definitely have to deal with the consequences of it all when he was alone, he didn't need more...

He breathed leaving the air slowly through his nose and started taking off his white t-shirt, he had better start thinking about anything before things got serious there and he still had to worry about how to get rid of Roy Harper and go back to the mansion.

\- "So..." - Raven muttered still with her back to Damian and he saw her throw the white shirt on the floor... Fuck - "Who's the guy?"

\- "Hmm... Roy Harper... Lian Harper's father... We took care of her that day at the school fair..." - Damian grunted without looking back - "He is from the Queen family... Emiko is a sort of his aunt... I think... Or something..."

\- "Hmm... Great... Emiko's family..." - Raven wrapped the white towel around her body and bent down to get another towel to dry her hair - "We are fucked... I am fucked..."

\- "Why do you think that?"

\- "He will call the police... And possibly Batman... And your father... And your brothers... We will be arrested for breaking into a house, this is a crime, right...? And I will probably have to ask Aunt Alice to get out of San Francisco and come and get me out of jail... This will end me... Never again will she let me out alone... And my chances of a good college will to the trash... A passage in the police for breaking into a house! I shouldn't have listened to you..." - Raven grunted looking at her own reflection in the glass in front of her - "You are definitely a bad influence, Damian Wayne..."

\- "Wait... You gave the idea of running away..."

\- "I didn't say anything about breaking into a residence..." - Raven grunted with a raised eyebrow - "You said there was no one here... And now, we will probably stop in Arkham because of a crappy pool..."

\- "First of all, do you really think Harper is going to call the police?" - Damian could almost laugh - "Second, do you really believe that all the people who are arrested in Gotham go to Arkham? You know that Arkham is a psychological hospital and a prison complex, but not everyone is going to stop there..." - Damian crossed his arms, he could almost laugh at Raven's irrational fear of stopping at Arkham... - "And third... Do you really think Batman appears in any police situation? And fourth, can you for God's sake relax? Harper won't call the police..."

\- "Barbara said he was called at the ball last because of a stolen necklace, so yes..."

\- "Raven... They are... They are completely different situations..." - Damian grunted laughing as he unbuttoned his wet pants, her fear of Batman was so ridiculous and irrational that he almost wanted to tell her that she didn't I had to be afraid, she was even sleeping at Batman's house - "What happened at last year's dance was... Sporadic... My father needed the necklace scandal to be resolved or else it would be a problem for companies... Batman is a kind of detective, it's not like he's a plainclothes policeman waiting for the first stupid crime to happen... He investigates bigger crimes, not a break-in of a pool by two irresponsible teenagers..."

\- "Anyway ... - Raven murmured shrugging - "Hey... You know a lot about Batman, don't you?" - Damian opened his mouth to say something but closed it again, he knew he had said too much and now he needed to get around the situation. It's not like he could just answer that his father was Batman and that he knew what his operative modus was like because he currently worked with his father. And Raven wouldn't believe anything he said, she had that damn sixth sense that always caught his lies...

_Or he was a terrible liar, that was also a good possibility._

\- "Hmmm... Entire Gotham knows the hero of the city... It's not new..."

\- "Hm... But you say as if you lived with him... Wait, do you know Batman personally?" - Damian swallowed hard

\- "And why would I know a crazy guy with a fetish for leather clothes and furry nocturnal animals?" - Raven gave a loud chuckle on his back

\- "That was funny..." - She murmured between laughter - "Well, you are rich and your family is native to Gotham... I don't know... Maybe you would provide the armament for this guy... Because let's be honest, you need to have a lot of money for all that military armament and the population of Gotham doesn't look like the richest in the country..."

\- "Your logic makes sense..." - Damian murmured wrapping the towel around his waist - "But... I don't know who this guy is... I just... I just know his modus operand... And I I spend most of my time in San Francisco, I'm guessing too... I didn't grow up here and I don't live here long enough..."

\- "Hm..." - Raven took a deep breath - "Too bad you don't know who he is... I would want to meet Robin...

\- "Robin? And why are you afraid of Batman showing up, but you want to meet Robin?

\- "Nothing... This is stupid... Forget what I said..."

\- "No... Now you say, okay? You started, then you finish..."

\- "It's nothing, Damian... It's... Just girl stupidity...

\- "Say it..."

\- "Hmm... Well, this is going to die here okay?"

\- "I'm not Garfield, Raven... I'm not going to go out and tell everyone whatever you have to say"

\- "But you will laugh... I said... It's stupid and... It started when I was only 10 years old and I was a scared girl"

\- "Raven, for God's sake, just say..."

\- "I think Robin is _cute_... Maybe _pretty_... You know, the mask doesn't cover his whole face like Batman's, so... - Raven grunted shrugging, Damian almost choked. Was it really serious what she was saying? If she only knew he was Robin... Gods, Damian felt like he was going to die if he held his cough a little longer

\- "Robin? Do you think Robin is... _cute_? And _pretty_?"

\- "I said it was girlish stupidity..." - Raven rolled her eyes, not seeing that Damian was as red as a ripe tomato - "It's not like I'm in love with an imaginary boy, but... He's a celebrity and he seems to be our age and he is so brave to go around kicking criminals' asses... I don't know, it's like he was a Hollywood person..." - Raven smiled rocking on her feet - "If you knew the Batman so I thought maybe you could knew Robin too..." - This could only be a bad joke... She must have known he was Robin somehow and was making a bad joke with him

\- "Hm..." - Damian coughed covertly as he tried to filter the information he had just heard. Raven thought he was... Cute? And did she really want to meet him? And was she there, acting like he was her favorite celebrity? Damian pursed his lips in a thin line to keep him from screaming that he was Robin for her...

Oh gods, those sensations again and the urge to talk a lot of nonsense...

\- "Anyway..." - Raven muttered crossing her arms, just waiting for Damian to finish wrapping himself in the towel - "It's a stupid thing... My cousin introduced me to this when I was just a little girl and I thought it was amazing that a child of mine age could really do all that... You know, punch villains and jump off buildings..."

\- "I... I... I... I don't know Robin..." - He murmured without courage to look at Raven, he didn't know if he could lie to her looking into her blue eyes - "He can be any boy our age here in Gotham..."

\- "Hm... Whatever..." - Raven shrugged - "I know that if you knew you wouldn't tell me... I know that this super hero thing is all super protected..." - She laughed crookedly - "Codenames, etc..."

\- "I wouldn't lie to you... I wouldn't have a problem sharing it with you..." - _Lie_ \- "I don't know who Robin is..." - _Lie_ \- "I have no idea who this boy is..." - _Lie again_ \- "And there's no reason why I know who he would be..." - _Another lie... But, it was for a good cause, right?_

\- "Hm... Okay..." - She grimaced and slowly turned to Damian, trying to divert her attention from everything that was in front of her. Damian was definitely like _Adonis_ and she really wanted to be his _Persephone_ and _Aphrodite_ for a brief moment - "Mmm... Come on... Let's go in..." - Raven hugged herself trying to prevent her cheeks from blushing, her hands itched for wanting to touch on his bare chest.

_That wasn't right..._

\- "Are you sure? I doubt that Harper will do anything and... Taking off my clothes, your clothes are practically dry... I can call a taxi and help you go..." - He crossed his arms - "You don't need to listen to this..."

\- "What part of it will not work and that running away is worse you didn't understand?" - Raven grunted, her head falling to the side - "Besides, we invaded this together... And I really need something warm and comfortable and an important part of my clothes is not dry... I can't keep this panties... It's so wet that if I twist her, it is likely that she will drip..."

\- "Raven..." - Raven stopped saying and closed her eyes. Damian didn't look at her, his eyes were everywhere except her and he had this thing of holding on and Raven noticed what she said... Out of context she could look like she was saying that she was horny and definitely Damian didn't need to know about her panties and how they were...

\- "Because the pool, of course... I... I was using it when I entered the pool... I mean, it's not wet that way... Oh gods, I'm just going to close my mouth..."

\- "This... Just close your mouth... It's a lot of information... And you're making it worse... And I don't need to hear it..." - Damian grunted looking away, too embarrassed to look at Raven.

How had they come to this?

\- "Anyway... Come on..." - Raven murmured pointing to the exit - "Hot chocolate and comfortable clothes..." And that's it..."

\- "Good..." - He nodded and picked up his clothes on the floor as he watched Raven walk quickly in front of him, picking up her dress and shoes on the floor without looking at him. Damian had already gone to that house with Jason, Dick and Emiko before and he really knew where the damn kitchen was, but he just couldn't remember. His mind was too busy thinking about everything that had happened and thanks to Raven, struggling with his overly fertile imagination.

They went around the same bush three times before Damian realized he was wrong and that he should walk in the opposite direction.

The kitchen was lit and he and Raven almost sighed when they felt how warm and cozy it was. There were two mugs with smoke coming out of them and a white foam of melted marshmallows on top and the smell made Raven want to close her eyes and just head towards the mugs. Raven didn't remember until then that she was really hungry and that she and Damian had actually bought snacks, but that now, she didn't even remember where it was.

Damian looked at the glass with a twisted nose, as if it was something new for him to try and that, by his expression, maybe it was really something new.

Raven knew that he was from another continent and that things, somehow, were different and hadn't been easy for him... And that meant that some things, even as stupid as a cup of hot chocolate, could also be new experiences for him...

\- "You never had hot chocolate?"

\- "Hm?" - He looked up from his mug and looked towards Raven - "Erm... No..." - He made a face - "I prefer teas..." - He shrugged - "Pennyworth always does it at the mansion when it's very cold, but I never saw the sense of taking melted chocolate with... This..." - He poked the marshmallow with the tip of his finger

\- "Ah... Not everything in life needs sense, Damian ... Sometimes, we just do it because... It's good..."

\- "Mmm..."

\- "So... You need to take that mug..." - She laughed and held the mug out to him

\- "Give it a try..." - Damian held the mug carefully - "It's not china cup but... What matters is the content..."

\- "I still think I prefer tea..."

\- "I'll make you some tea when we get back to the mansion... But now you're going to have a mug of hot chocolate..." - Raven rolled her eyes - "It's good... Trust me... I'm a tea lover too... And I can't spare a nice cozy mug of hot chocolate..." - Damian took a deep breath and looked at the mug and then at Raven, she had a different sparkle in her eyes and an innocent smile on her lips and he felt he could look at her for the rest of his life.

\- "Hmm... Okay... But you owe me a mug of tea when we get back to the mansion..."

\- "You have my word, Wayne..." - He rolled his eyes and raised the drink to his lips. He felt the heat of the chocolate fill every space on his body and remind him of moments he didn't even know if he had lived. It was strange that he felt so welcomed with a hot drink, but he knew it was caused by the properties of cocoa and it was just a chain reaction of releasing endorphins...

But still... Raven was right, it was good...

\- "Hm..." - He licked his lips, feeling his shoulders lighter - "You were right..."

\- "I'm always right..." - She laughed - "My super power, remember? Older, prettier and smarter..."

\- "You're not older... Prettier? Of course, Smarter? No"

\- "Some months make me older than you, Damian..."

\- "This is irrelevant... We are in the same classes..."

\- "That is irrelevant..."

\- "We are both 17, right?" - He shrugged

\- "Whatever..." - Raven shrugged

\- "Whatever..."

\- "For this reason I am still deciding if I stopped hating you or if it is just a pause in my desire to punch you in the face..."

\- "You always say this... Since we met you say that you want to punch me..."

\- "Maybe I should start taking action..."

\- "I also think you should stop just threatening and try to take action... Come on, try to hit me..." - Damian walked over to her with that stupid smile on his face and Raven was undecided between punching, breaking her mug on his face or if she just kissed him again...

It was a complete hell out of her mind.

She needed to start accepting that she unfortunately found Damian attractive and that maybe he was the best kiss she had in her little social life... And that it all turned her into a hot mess... She would always end up kissing him and that needed to stop before she realized it was too late. She needed to talk to someone about this... 

Rose? Tara? Her aunt Alice? The options were getting worse and worse.

She wanted so much to be able to ask her mother about that... Would she know how to give advice about boys? Would she know what to say when Raven didn't know how to explain what she was feeling? Raven took a deep breath and drank some of the cup thoughtfully.

\- "Come on, Raven..." - he smiled - "You didn't want to hit me?"

\- "Are you taking this seriously?"

\- "I am..." - Damian grunted seriously - "I'm tired of your threats... Hit me at once..." - He crossed his arms - "I'm more concerned with my towel than with you actually doing it..."

\- "You're an idiot..."

\- "And...?" - He raised an eyebrow

\- "I hit you earlier today... When you stupidly suggested I go undressed..."

\- "I didn't suggest you go undressed...! How was I supposed to guess you weren't wearing a bra?"

\- "Whatever, I already did that... I'm not going to fall for your game, I'm not going to try to hit you so you can defend yourself and my towel falls to the floor... I already slapped you today and I'm satisfied with that..."

\- "Yeah... That was a nice slap..." - He grunted, sliding his fingers on the cheek where Raven had slapped before. That slap would probably leave a red spot on his face that he would take time to explainIt's not like he could just say _'Oh, it's nothing... Raven hit me because she thought I wanted to see her naked...'_

\- "So... End of conversation..."

\- "You know there is no way I can explain such a red, right?"

\- "You are exaggerating, there is no mark on your face..."

\- "You think? My face was burning where your skeletal fingers hit..."

\- Let me see," - Raven mumbled, walking over to him, reaching for his face. She could feel the heat emanating from his body towards her and suddenly, she felt everything she had felt in the pool, and she felt this stupid urge to touch him, to feel his skin under her fingers. Suddenly, she had forgotten why she had threatened to slap him - "I will prove that you are just being overdone... There are no marks here..." - Damian felt her fingertips slide carefully across his face as he her eyes roamed as if trying to find something. Raven found herself biting her lip harder than necessary, the balance now weighing more on wanting to kiss him.

Damian slid his hand over her hand, holding her wrist at his chest level as his gaze locked and lost in the blue of the oceanic vastness of her eyes and Raven felt as if a shock woke every cell in her that was sleeping before.

Oh gods and the butterflies... They were no longer butterflies she felt in her stomach... It was something bigger...

\- "I..." - Raven murmured without taking her eyes from him - "I think everything is fine... There is no... mark on your face..."

\- "I don't give a damn about it, honestly ... - He whispered

\- "Me neither..." - Raven grunted

\- "Good... Because if you're not going to slap me, I'm going to kiss you again, or I'm going to go crazy"

\- "Wait, wh-" - Before Raven finished saying, Damian's lips were against hers again, as in the pool and his hands rested on her waist. Raven felt himself melting like marshmallows in hot chocolate as he deepened the kiss. It was as if she could hear and feel everything and nothing at the same time. She felt hot and cold and any doubt had left her.

She wondered what she was doing and that she shouldn't be kissing Damian Wayne and she knew that she would regret it later and that she wasn't alone and that that guy would show up anytime, but her body wouldn't obey her, she melted like butter in Damian's hands and how he gently squeezed her waist, pulling her close to him.

Her heart was beating fast, stumbling and missing the beat as Damian seemed to take all of her breath away. It was so sweet and gentle and yet in need that Raven had no choice. She needed to accept once and for all, she liked to kiss Damian...

She definitely liked it... And _a lot_... And she wanted to do it more often. Perhaps, there was more than just enjoying kissing him.

She knew that there were feelings that she didn't dare to think to describe all that... Feelings that she wasn't yet prepared to assume and accept. It was a weakness of hers that she would admit and then fight...

She didn't like Damian, they were different, they didn't make sense together, they were nothing less than enemies until months before...

Even so, she let herself be carried away by the magic of the moment and how Damian's lips fit hers and how cinnamon and chocolate combined so perfectly when they came because of Damian... She always felt the essence of cinnamon when he was next, but it all got so unimaginably better with chocolate... Damian rubbed a thumb over Raven's jaw, holding her face while the other hand gently squeezed her waist in a very slow and sensual kiss for Raven's opinion.

And she didn't want to stop.

For a brief moment, which for Raven, seemed like an eternity, she let himself be carried away by the softness of Damian's lips against hers and by the sweet touch like honey. He took her with an ease that was foreign even to her, he knew how to make her give in to it and the magic he had in his hands.

And then it was over...

The magic end with a surprise like every other time, leaving Raven always wanting a little more. Damian reluctantly pulled his lips away from Raven's, seeking them once, twice, three times again before pulling away completely, still leaving his forehead against hers, eyes closed as he tried to organize his own mess. His thumb caressed her cheek with a sweetness that he didn't even know he could have.

Raven was dizzy, confused and breathless... What had just happened?

\- "Hm... I... I'm sorry... I needed to do this..." - Damian grunted still with his eyes closed. What in the hell was he thinking when he kissed Raven? - "Will not happen again..."

\- "It's all... It's all right..." - She sighed slowly away, sliding her fingertips over the small scars she could feel on his chest. 

What the hell was she thinking when she kissed back.

She took a few breaths of air trying to organize the chaos of her mind. Raven blinked a few times and opened her eyes, she had the faint feeling that she had heard the sound of porcelain being dragged...

_Oh no_...

\- "Well, well, well... This is a very good night, fugitive sunshines..." - Raven wasn't crazy. Again there was someone behind them and this time, she really wanted to die.

Standing behind them was **Jason Todd**, worst Damian's old brother, with a smile on his lips, his blue eyes announcing a storm ahead as he leaned against the sink, bringing a cup to his lips and Roy was right behind him stifling a laugh with sweatshirts in his hands.

Damian jumped so high when he heard the voice behind him that he dropped the cup on the counter and Raven could be sure that what he cursed under his breath was equivalent to _"fuck"_ even though she didn't understand the language.

\- "Little brother, little brother... I knew you had found a girlfriend but... I'm still surprised..."

\- "I'm not his girlfriend..."

\- "She's not my girlfriend..."

\- "And I'm the Joker..." - Jason rolled his eyes

\- "Harper, why did you have to call him exactly? Really? The stupid Gorilla without a brain?"

\- "Hey, I have nothing to do with this ... I didn't call Jason..."

\- "You called... But not for exactly that..." - Jason grunted with a mischievous smile on his lips. 

\- "You are lucky that Lian is not awake because otherwise, I would put you out at this very moment..."

\- "I would never say that in front of Lian..."

\- "I have my doubts...

\- "You didn't have those doubts half an hour ago..."

\- "What the hell are they?" - Raven muttered under her breath to Damian

\- "I don't know... We don't normally ask what exactly Todd's sexual relationships really are..."

\- "Got it..." - Raven grunted, squeezing her lip as he slowly nodded

\- "You two, you little demons... Stop whispering... Adults are talking..." - Damian just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms while Roy looked at Jason with a shocked look.

And Raven tried to think of ways to get away.

_Being caught in the act by a complete stranger, kissing a boy in a pool, wearing only a button-down shirt and panties?_ ** Bad**

_Being caught in the act by Jason Todd, kissing his brother in a kitchen and wearing only a towel and wet underwear?_ **Numerously worse**

\- "Jason, can you shut up?"

\- "So how did you find out I was here? What are you doing here, by the way?"

\- "Did you really think you would steal my motorcycle and I wouldn't know?"

\- "I expected you to find out, actually... A punishment for betting on me and Raven..."

\- "Oh... The bet I won..." - He laughed - "Thanks by the way... I should have brought a camera..."

\- "Shut up..."

\- "Anyway..." - Jason shrugged - "My bike has a tracker... You should know that, since it's not the first time you've stolen it..."

\- "Ah..." - Damian nodded slowly - "And what are you doing here?"

\- "I was planning the rest of my night here, if you didn't get it by now, little bat..." - Jason raised his eyebrow looking at Damian, who just kept the same frown as before - "So, Dick noticed that you had disappeared then, discreetly, we started looking for you because we were sure you were rubbing each other behind some bush and we had a pending bet... I was sure I was going to win... So, that's when I noticed that my precious motorcycle wasn't in the place where I left it ... And guess what? She had magically come exactly where I was planning to come... I just needed to connect the dots... Which doesn't explain at all what you two are doing here, if you could go to any Bruce property that would leave you alone to... You know... _fuck_..."

\- "Nop... I won't be listening to this," - Raven grunted, throwing her hands up as he walked towards Roy. The boy handed her one of the sweatshirts without saying anything, Raven didn't have to say exactly when she had her eyebrows together and her scowl almost resembled Damian's...

The problem is that hers was more scared, something seemed to want to come out when she did that and Roy didn't need to know her well to feel it.Damian looked at Raven fading into the darkness of the hall and the sound of a door closing. Raven was angry and her tone showed that.

\- "Oops... Did I say something wrong?" - Jason grunted with his arms raised- "You are an idiot, Todd... And you have the gift of ruining everyone's night..."

\- "Oh... I'm sorry" - Jason raised an eyebrow - "But it was not me who invaded the house of others to fuck..."

\- "We weren't... That's not it!" - Damian grunted nervously - "I needed to get out of that place... That's all... We have nothing..." - Damian ran his fingers through his hair - "It's not like it's all about sex... We are friends... Only that..."

\- "Oh... Sure... Friends... If you say..." - Jason shrugged - "But that still doesn't explain how I meet you two at someone's house at 1 am, completely undressed, wet and kissing..."

\- "It's none of your business..." - Damian looked away - "We just fell into the pool, end of conversation...

\- "Hmm... Of course... And you were just doing mouth-to-mouth breathing, weren't you? How it's called? Life-saving kiss? I have the slight impression that this is not done by sticking your tongue in her throat, but... She is alive... Hallelujah! _Gloria in excelsis deo!_ We have the miracle of the kiss of tongue saves lives right here..."

\- "That's none of your business, Todd..." - Jason crossed his arms looking at Damian and then shook his head - "I don't question what you're doing with Harper..."

\- Why do you always have to put me in the middle of your discussion?

\- "First, I'm not questioning what you do with a girl or what you don't do... As long as you use protection... Second, you asked what I was doing here, so yes... You're actually question what I'm doing with Roy..."

\- "I didn't know you were coming here...

\- "Whatever..." - Jason shrugged - "It's nothing new..."

\- "Who else knows we were here?"

\- "Nobody... Everyone was still looking for you when I left... Maybe Bruce already knows thanks to the tracker he puts on every _saint Robin_ that appears..."

\- "Shut up..."

\- "Oh... Haven't you told her our family's dirty little secret yet?"

\- "And I won't tell..." - Damian rolled his eyes - "That wouldn't only endanger her, but us too... And I'm trying to live the damned normal life that you forced me..."

\- "And no need to thank us..." - Jason smiled, tilting his head to the side. At the same moment, there was the sound of a door unlocking and Raven appeared in a gray sweatshirt much bigger than she really was and her hair braided in a single braid falling over her shoulder.

The blouse with the Queen Industries symbol covered almost to her knee and Raven had to fold the hem of her pants so she wouldn't trip over it. She still had the same frown as before, but now she just looked like an angry child and it was the cutest thing Jason and Damian had ever seen.

\- "Aren't you going to get dressed?" - She grunted passing Damian without looking at the boys who were silent at the same moment she appeared

\- "Yes, Damian... You should get dressed... Before the bird dies of cold..."

\- "Can you shut up, Jason?"

\- "I didn't say anything too much, Roy..." - Jason shrugged - "I don't know if you remember but Damian is a _bird_ in our family..." - Damian rolled his eyes

\- "It had to be you to come... With a universe of possibilities, it had to be you..."

\- "Batman wasn't a bad idea, thinking now..." - Raven murmured taking the cup again. The chocolate was no longer hot and she was a little irritated with herself for letting all this happen and a little irritated by Jason's comments...

Although she already expected that and really believed she deserved it... It was a punishment acceptable for breaking rules and getting carried away by the stupid feelings of a teenager.

But she knew that Damian and Jason would spend the whole night in that big brother vs little brother argument and as much as she found it amusing before, now she just needed to lie on a bed and analyze everything that had happened...

She it still echoed in her mind what Damian had said before kissing her both times...

And she still echoed and weighed her own sensations and feelings, she needed to be alone in a room to organize herself. Damian and Jason acting like a nervous flock of birds didn't help her organize herself and the pieces that her mind had become...

After an extensive discussion between Damian and Jason, in which Raven didn't want to participate, Damian finally decided he was too cold to continue walking around the kitchen with a towel and walked over to put on the sweatshirt that Roy was still holding in his hands.

And Raven thanked her mentally for it, she could honestly feel the butterflies fly in her stomach every holy time she found herself paying attention to details of Damian that she didn't know if she had noticed before, like how he sometimes swayed on his heels, with his arms crossed or how sometimes, he looked at her and Raven could see the crease between his eyebrows disappear, only to appear again when Jason commented on something.

If Raven's mind was chaos before, now it was a hurricane of messes that she didn't know where to start solving.

She had unanswered questions and she didn't know how to start looking for answers, everything surfaced like the first time they kissed, her head was a mess and she found herself thinking far away, everywhere in the world except there.

When Damian came back dressed in a sweatshirt that, unlike Raven, seemed to be too tight for him, the clock said almost 1:30 AM and she began to feel tired and her body complained about rest. Since she got off the plane, she hadn't rested and she had a damn jet lag hitting her right in the face.

Jason whispered something to Roy and then pulled out a phone, saying that he had found them both at a diner and that he was already taking them home and Raven thanked him mentally for Jason not commenting on what had happened, but at the same time, she knew it it would be expensive... Surely Jason would charge a favor in return, he wouldn't miss the opportunity.

It didn't take more than 15 minutes for Dick to show up at the mansion's door, with one of Bruce's convertibles and the face of someone who was ready to pour half a dozen punishments on the backs of the two teenagers about how irresponsible they had been, but he just looked at Jason and closed his mouth.

He would demand explanations later, from Damian's countenance, he knew that being found by Jason was punishment enough. They even had to deal with the confused looks of Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance and Raven could have sworn he saw a smile from Emiko to Damian, before returning to the old serious frown ever.

\- "Oh... Dick, Jason, Damian... Did something happen?" - The blonde woman grunted walking to 4 and Raven felt all the strength of her legs leave her. If she didn't get a scolding lady from Roy Harper, she would take that woman. Raven swallowed a sigh, that blonde woman was Dinah Lance...

The famous singer, _Dinah Lance_...

Raven controlled the urge to slap her forehead, she should have reasoned before Emiko Queen was related to Oliver Queen, a famous businessman from Star City and who was married to singer Dinah Lance...

Raven was standing there thinking about various ways of what could happen and her stammering and saying something stupid due to nervousness was one of them.

\- "Oh... Is the bloody Wayne Ball over?"

\- "You know how they work, Roy..." - Dinah rolled her eyes heading towards 4 - "Not even Bruce Wayne was there when we left..."

\- "Certainly he had a celebration apart... It was just like him to take advantage of a charity action to promote himself..."

\- "Oliver... The children..." - Dinah murmured between her teeth and then turned to the boys, her eyes finding the girl in the middle of it all, wearing a sweatshirt much bigger than fit her. 

Emiko made a choked sound behind her

\- "So... Is there a problem, boys?"

\- "Nothing that deserves your concern Dinah..." - Dick always said in his very friendly tone - "We were already going home..."

\- "And what are 4 messy guys like you doing with a girl so... cute?" - She had her eyebrow together, probably expecting the worst excuse of all - "Wait, I saw you at the Wayne ball... You were like a princess with Damian... A beautiful blue dress, aren't you...? What happened? Did they do something to you my dear?"

\- "NO!" - Raven's voice went up an octave and then she took a deep breath and tried to calm down. I was so nervous that I felt the skin tingling, as if something was about to burst inside her - "No, they did nothing... I... I went out with Damian because we were bored and... There was an accident... I... I" - Raven tried to think of what to say and just an excuse would be acceptable - "I needed other clothes... My... My... My period ended up coming and I... I was too embarrassed to go back to the party and Damian ended up lending me his clothes... And then we called Jason and he had the idea to gently bring us to Roy so I could wear something..."

\- "Oh..."

\- "Oh..."

\- "Oh...?"

\- "Erm..." - Jason grunted looking at Raven - "Of course... That's exactly what happened..."

\- "I can't believe you left this girl wandering around in the cold in this state... Roy!"

\- "What?"

\- "It's okay..."

\- "Boys..." - Dinah rolled her eyes and smoothed Raven's shoulders - "They never have a touch for these things..." - She rolled her eyes and gave Raven a motherly smile - "But you learn to deal... Especially dating someone like Damian..."

\- "For God's sake, how many times do I need to say? She's not my girlfriend!" - Damian grunted putting his hands on his face

\- "Oh..."

\- "Hold on a little, Damian..." - Jason muttered holding on to Damian's shoulder - "You are leaving the character..."

\- "Hm..."

\- "I'm Dinah Lance..." - She smiled holding Raven's hand - "And you?"

\- "Raven... It's a pleasure to meet you, Dinah! I know your songs and you are such an amazing and wonderful singer!"

\- "Oh... Are you the famous Raven? Emiko talks a lot about you... And apparently, it's all true... She's so cute!" - Dinah grunted with a smile on her lips

\- "Dinah!" - Emiko shouted from the other side

\- "What? I thought you were friends, you always say about her and how she's cool..." - Emiko had her eyes wide and just threw her arms up and entered the mansion stamping her feet on the floor and screaming _"Unbelievable"_ \- "Tsc... Teenagers..." - She looked at the direction where Emiko had disappeared for a few seconds before looking back at Raven in front of her - Anyway, nice to meet you, Raven ... Bring her more often, Damian ... Emiko almost never brings friends at home when we're in San Francisco ... We can have a fun day by the pool and you're sure to find Star City a little better than Gotham City ..

\- "Ahnn..."

\- "Okay..." - Dick smiled crookedly, as friendly as possible, opening the car door for Raven - "Surely Dami will be able to take Raven when she goes to visit Emiko but, now we really need to go... This afternoon and these two should already be in bed and Bruce must be worried about them..."

\- "Sure... Good night boys, take good care of this girl..."

\- "Okay, Dinah... She's part of the family..."

\- "Please don't tell me that you already gave her an outfit like that and-"

\- **"NO"** \- Jason, Dick and Damian shouted together - "Ahnn..."

\- "Okay... This is embarrassing and confusing at the same time..." - Raven grunted

\- "Anyway... Come on..." - Dick grunted smiling as he walked with Raven and Damian towards the car - "See you soon, Dinah..."

\- "Bye, Dick, send a kiss to Babs for me... It was a pleasure to meet you, Raven..."

\- "It was my pleasure, Dinah ..." - And with one last wave, Raven walked with Dick and Damian toward the car Dick had arrived. He opened the door for Raven to enter and before Damian followed her, Jason grabbed him by the collar of his sweatshirt, pulling him in the other direction.

\- "HEY!"

\- "Dick will take Raven safely to the mansion..."

\- "And...?"

\- "You go with me..." - Jason had a thin smile on his lips - "We have a lot to talk about on the way..."

\- "No..." - Damian crossed his arms- "No way am I going with you..."

\- "Sorry D," - Dick turned the key, making the engine rumble - "But... Jason will be your ride to the mansion..."

\- "Hey... Hey Richard, wait..". - And before Damian walked to the car, Dick took off leaving Damian like a fool going after them and seeing Raven one last time, her eyes scared.

\- "Are you idiots?"

\- "Hey, relax little D..."

\- "Relax? Did you saw Raven's eyes? She'll think Dick is going to do something to her..." - He practically shouted and Jason laughed, arms crossed - "What are you laughing at, Todd? You didn't see? She was afraid and she will be scared..." - Jason always thought Damian would be an extremely overprotective boyfriend... He was right, even if Damian denied he was dating that girl...

\- "Little D, I said... Relax... She'll be fine... It's Dick we're talking about..."

\- "She doesn't know Grayson..."

\- "Do you really think Dick will not try to play the role of super brother with her? From what I know of Dick, he must be putting Abba to play right now... Relax, she'll be home safely..." - Damian took a deep breath and crossed his arms.

He knew it was true, he trusted Dick and knew he didn't miss an opportunity to welcome a bird with a broken wing under his protection. Raven would be safer with Dick than anyone and he knew that Dick would not miss the chance to put her under his wings and act like the big brother she never had.

But he still felt strange, that look made him aware, nervous and he wanted to run after the car and just pull Raven out of it and hug her as hard as he could and say that she was okay...

That everything would be fine and that he was there to protect her. He took a deep breath, letting the air out slowly from his nostrils, that was sick, and he was tired of trying to understand...

\- "So... Can we go or do you still want to look beyond and think about being her Superman?"

\- "Shut up..." - Damian mumbled past Jason as he walked towards the motorcycle he had parked in a bush not far from there, how a moment like that when they got there, and he felt the adrenaline rush through his veins turned into that? A shower of confusion that he hated to feel.

\- "And here we are again..." - Jason laughed, turning the keys on his finger as he followed Damian to where the motorcycle was.

Jason almost jumped on the bike, kissing and hugging it as if it were a living thing and Damian just rolled his eyes. 

_That was **too** stupid_

\- "We can go?"

\- "Sure, but you know the scheme... I only have one helmet..."

\- "Can I drive?"

\- "No way"

\- "But I already know how to drive"

\- "No"

\- "I know how to drive since I was 6"

\- "I dont care..."

\- "I'm 17"

\- "The answer is still no" - Jason grunted starting the bike, his smile widening when he heard the roar of the engine under his feet - "Dad missed you too, red..."

\- "This is stupid and creepy" - Damian grunted putting on the only helmet and walking to the back of the bike - "I could very well have gone with Grayson... This is humiliating..."

\- "Stop complaining, little bat... You like to ride a motorcycle, don't you?" - Damian rolled his eyes, the scowl returning to his face as Jason drove out of the Queen's mansion, all remaining behind as the roar of Jason's red motorcycle cut through the quiet streets of Gotham towards Wayne Mansion. Part of the way back was complete silence again, and Damian took the time to mentally weigh everything that had happened.

He had kissed Raven, _twice_, that night.

Three times, if he counted when she shut his mouth in the pool... This was new and yet, like every other time, he didn't know how to act.

\- "Hey romeu... Wake up..." - Jason grunted, his voice muffled by the roar of the bike

\- "Todd, you just don't know how to keep quiet?"

\- "I don't like it... The silence makes me too anxious..."

\- "Hmm... I don't care about that..."

\- "I know..." - Jason laughed - "Hmm... So... The girl... Do you like her or is it just a weekend thing? I know you are very close but..."

\- "I will not answer you about it..."

\- "That's already a great answer..." - Jason laughed, turning on the bench to look at Damian, who just rolled his eyes - "I accept that..."

\- "That's not it..." - Damian rolled his eyes - "We are trying to... Overcome our differences since what happened at the fair... And we are good at it..."

\- "Friends with benefits... Got it..."

\- "No!" - Damian almost shouted, his voice rising an octave. Jason smiled and stopped the motorcycle again, turning to Damian. Damian noticed that they must not be too far from the mansion, maybe if he got up and just left...

\- "Look, I'm not good at advising and I know that, I made it clear to you once and I make it a point to make it clear again..." - Jason shrugged, his blue eyes showing that at that moment, he was serious... Or just trying.

Dick has always been the kind of older brother, which is always there to advise and pull the ear and always play a more fatherly role that Bruce was unable to play. Damian went to Dick several times for advice and knew he could trust him with that. He was Damian's second choice in that matter and he was fine with that

Tim was also good at giving advice, but it was a complete denial to girls... He dated Stephanie and had had a kind of relationship with Conner and yet, he acted like an innocent boy... Damian often wondered if in at some point, Tim had made some kind of chastity vow, although he always throws huge parties in the penthouse and always tries to be "the cool brother".

And Jason was... the kind of person that Damian would never ask for advice.

** **_Never..._** **

Jason was wild, mocking and almost always said something that made all of Damian's nerves boil. It was irresponsible and inconsequential and Damian was tired of hearing him joke about anything he could...But Damian knew that Jason also knew how to be serious, and in that moment, Jason was very serious, almost in a _"Richard Grayson"_ mood.

\- "But I see that you're crazy about her... You don't see this, but you like this girl, and to be honest, you should run to her today and assume your feelings for her at once... Before she finds out someone more interesting to run around..." - Jason crossed his arms - "Girls like her don't want an adventure every weekend with a guy who insists on calling her a friend... And it's not every day that you'll find someone like her in her miserable life...

\- "We are friends, end of conversation..."

\- "Friends who are always kissing and jacking off because of it? For God's sake, Damian..." - Jason rolled his eyes - "You like her, you like to feel her in your arms, you like to imagine her under you and you want that... You can't even hide how is in a super protective and nervous mode you are because of her and... Invading a house in the middle of the night because of a swimming pool? This is not your normal... Wake up at once before it's too late..."

\- "TT..." - Damian rolled his eyes - "Me and Raven are friends and that's all, and that's none of your business..."

\- "If you say..." - Jason rolled his eyes - "Just don't cry over the spilled milk when you see that she is with another guy next to her and you have become exactly what you are claiming to be, a friend... Or not even that..." - Damian snorted and grunted while Jason was still looking at him waiting for him to say something. Jason mumbled something unintelligible to Damian and then started the motorcycle again and started driving again.- "Just think about how you feel about her before it's too late, because she is a beautiful, intelligent and very good girl... And as much as you think you don't deserve... You deserve someone good like her... And she deserves much more than just waiting for you to decide if you want to stop being an asshole or not... "- Damian rolled his eyes, not bothering to answer Jason something that even he didn't know what it was.

What was Raven to him? What did all the times they kissed mean? Why did he always feel like kissing her, touching her even if it was because of a stupid argument about whether or not she was older? He had a lot to think about and Jason didn't help...

He was afraid to consider what Jason was saying... Him? Liking someone? Liking Raven? What did it mean to _"like someone"_? Be in love? Could he fall in love with someone?

He preferred to stick with the theory that Raven was meta-human and that somehow, all of these were symptoms of a disease...

Jason continued to mumble things about Damian missing out on the opportunity to have a beautiful, cool and smart girl out of sheer stupid pride and that soon, he would be alone and _"hard-on"_ if he didn't take an action that Damian decided to deeply ignore, part of his mind tried to analyze the situation in a rational and logical way because that would be the only way to reach a solution, the other party thought about Raven in the mansion and how beautiful she was when it was lit by the moonlight and how she grunted when he kissed her in the kitchen, as she melted in his hands.

Jason was awful with advice and Damian remembered it every time he remembered that it was for a moment to consider following what he said once, and they ended up being caught red-handed in the dark back of the library...

Everything went wrong after that, even though he kept all the details of that night in his memory and replayed it over and over in his mind before going to sleep, wondering what would have happened if it weren't for Hunter showing up.

Remembering Hunter made Damian want to throw up, he tried not to remember it when Raven was around, she seemed to have completely deleted it from her head and Damian knew it was a defense mechanism to avoid getting hurt again. And he didn't judge Raven, he also deleted things from his life to avoid getting hurt again... For Raven's sake, Hunter wasn't a threat to her, he was away and Damian would never leave her alone. Luckily, he was far away, on another continent, surrounded by women who probably kicked his ass.

_Still..._

Damian knew that some advice from Jason wasn't so bad and he always ended up thinking too much... That would be one of the nights that he would surely think too much. Damian let out a breath he didn't remember holding and let it oxygenate his brain. He needed help but, he didn't know how to ask.

And he didn't know if Jason was the help he needed.

When the motorcycle stopped at the mansion's door, Damian stepped down taking off his helmet and handing it over to Jason without wanting to talk. - "Aren't you going in?"

\- "No... I have things to do... Roy is still waiting for me..."

\- "Got it..." - Damian rolled his eyes and walked away, the gravel hitting his shoes as he walked towards the huge wooden door not far from where he was standing.

\- "Hey Damian..."

\- "What, Jason?" - Damian grunted, spinning on his heels, looking bored at Jason. That had the stupid smile back on his face.

\- "Think about what I told you and stop being like a fucking constipation..."

\- "Good night Todd..."

\- "Go to her room..."

\- "Good night, Todd" - Damian pointed his middle finger at Jason and started walking toward the mansion's door without looking back, listening to the sound of the motorcycle starting up again and disappearing into the dark gravel path.

Damian wasn't received by anyone, apparently, everyone had already left and there were only a few people cleaning the hall and moving tables and chairs out of the way, everything becoming a huge entrance room again. He wondered if Raven was already asleep, but he shook his head and headed quickly for his room, stopping only to hear giggles from Raven's room.

Okay, she was at home and probably all the girls were together doing torture work just like Jason had done with him. Damian snorted and walked back to his bedroom door and just threw himself on the bed, thinking and weighing everything he had heard, seen, felt and happened.

First, **he liked to talk to her...**

He liked to hear her laugh and liked to see how she closed her eyes when she laughed at something stupid he said, or how she just knew how to say exactly what he needed to hear.

Second, **he liked to be with her...**

He liked to touch her hands, liked to feel her soft, porcelain skin under his fingers. Raven was so smart, beautiful and had such soft skin... He felt an idiotic compulsion to always want to touch her.

Third, **he liked to kiss her...**

Oh god, he loved how her lips fit his, as if she had done it exclusively for him. He liked the vanilla taste she had and how she always melted when he squeezed her waist. He loved feeling how she simply kissed him in the pool and how he wanted her to grab him more often.

Damian took a deep breath and put both hands on his eyes weighing everything from the beginning that he met Raven, thinking about how he never understood why he was such an idiot with her, why he always wanted her looking at him, talking to him even if it was to fight with him .

\- "Oh my god... No... Nononononononono" - Damian murmured looking at the ceiling of his room, feeling everything finally make sense. The truth was there and Jason was right, he tried to get away from it from the beginning, tried to ignore it and push it to the bottom... It was Raven from the beginning, it was her and it was always be her... - _"Ohmystupidfuckinggod_"

Jason, Emiko, Dick and even Tim they were always right, and he got away from it and now he didn't know how to get away again, it was almost unbearable and Damian felt the truth hitting his head like an anchor.

Damian felt like he could throw up

\- "I think I'm really falling in love with her..."


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's Day!

Damian blinked his eyes a few times, seeing the sunlight shining on the windows of his room, by the intensity, it should have been around 10 or 11 in the morning. He didn't remember waking up this late, but he was used to a few hours of sleep...

That night had been no different...

Coming to the conclusion that he really liked Raven more than he wanted to admit made him feel sick and he found himself chased by fears he didn't remember having. He had never felt that way about anyone and the unknown was something he didn't like, he was taught that he should wait for everything, but this new feeling was a surprise that he didn't expect and much less was trained to deal with.

Suddenly the whole universe started to spin in his head and he felt sick and dizzy and thinking about Raven in a room not far from his made his throat close, was she still sleeping? Or would she have got up and was now walking through the mansion? Damian knew that breakfast had already been served and he probably missed the hour, but had she woken up in time? Damian wondered how she would have handled her brothers' questions and Bruce's gaze.

He took a deep breath, letting the air oxygenate his head as he looked at the ceiling, he felt defeated and cursed and didn't know how to act or what to do to get all those things out of his chest. He definitely needed help, but who to ask? His options were not good, but he needed to try.

He grunted and got up quickly from the bed, he needed to stop thinking about it and focus on important things, he had things to work with Tim, Dick and Cassandra that day, hopefully they would solve the Cobblepot problem before he returned to San Francisco and for that, he needed his entire focus on that mission.

Distractions were not allowed

Damian took a deep breath walking towards the bathroom, he was being irrational. Nothing would change with that revelation, Raven would remain a kindofafriend and he would just continue to do his chores in Gotham and study in San Francisco... The panic he was feeling was irrational...

What could happen?

Damian rolled his eyes and just finished his morning ritual before leaving the room and heading for the kitchen, probably Alfred had already cleared the breakfast table, but Damian felt he just needed a cup of tea to wake up completely.

Alfred was pacing back and forth as he always did carrying things to the table being set.

\- "Master Damian... Already awake?"

\- "It's 11 am... Is late to wake up..."

\- "The days after the balls always start late at the Wayne manor..." - Alfred smiled, placing fresh bread on the table - "I thought that you, being the youngest in the family, would take more time to wake up..."

\- "I lost sleep..." - Damian took a deep breath - "Did anyone else wake up?"

\- "No..." - Alfred scratched his chin - "Miss Raven got up just over two hours ago to get a glass of water, but went back to her room..."

\- "Hmm..." - Damian took a deep breath - "Drake, Grayson and Cain are late..."

\- "It's Saturday, Master Damian... You can relax in relation to your duties... Your brothers won't wake up before 11:30 am..."

\- "I don't think we should relax while Cobblepot smuggles right under our noses..."

\- "But you should..." - Alfred replied firmly - "You are still a teenager... You should be worrying about teenager stuff and maybe sleeping a little more..."

\- "The 'teenage stuff' you're referring to is bullshit, Pennyworth," - Damian muttered angrily. He needed to focus his head on chores so he wouldn't freak out again like he did the night before. He was definitely running away from teenage stuff - "And I don't want to talk about it..."

\- "Well... As you wish..." - Alfred smiled thinly - "Hmm... Miss Raven was radiant yesterday, wasn't she? I heard compliments about her from several of the guests yesterday... The moon goddess, that's what they were calling her..."

\- "Hmm... I..." - Damian swallowed - "She... Mmm... Yes..."

\- "I think the media is crazy to know who she was... Miss Lane never tired of asking me who she was..."

\- "They're a bunch of vultures..." - Damian replied without looking at Alfred - "I hope they keep their distance from her now that my father has officially announced this damn wedding..."

\- "Certainly, the media was excited about the announcement... It is certainly the home page of today's periodicals...."

\- "I don't believe my father lent himself to this ... An announcement in public, during a ball ... With her...!"

\- "Miss Kyle is an old friend of your father...."

\- "She is a thief... You know that..."

\- "And your mother was a murderer... And yet, your father married her for a brief period..."

\- "That's right, my father needs intervention in his relationships..."

\- "It shows that love happens, Master Damian ... He doesn't choose... You should know..."

\- "What are you implying, Pennyworth?"

\- "Nothing..." - Alfred shrugged

\- "This love thing is bullshit... And we should all be on the lookout for Kyle..."

\- "I'm sure Master Bruce doesn't need his kids to choose his relationships..."

\- "Hmm... He should... I'm saying, this marriage is a mistake..."

\- "Hmm..." - Alfred nodded

\- "Your father is old enough to choose his partners, Master Damian... This shouldn't be your concern .. Anyway... Everyone was very concerned when you disappeared yesterday after the fireworks... The photographers wanted a picture of the entire Wayne family for today's periodicals..."

\- "I don't want to talk about it either, Pennyworth..." - Damian rolled his eyes - "Todd and Grayson already made me hear enough..."

\- "Hmm... Of course... As you wish, Master Damian..." - Alfred snorted defeated, he knew that Damian was as obstinate as Bruce and usually sank into work when something happened. Alfred had seen the sparkle in Damian's eyes when he looked at Raven the day before and knew that the young boy was just in a state of denial about liking someone as he always was when it came to feelings...

He hoped that Damian didn't take too long to notice this.

He had liked Raven since the first time he saw her and knew that she would be good for Damian.That boy deserved some love he didn't get from other people.

Alfred nodded his head slowly and just put the dishes back on the table, Damian wouldn't say anything under pressure, Alfred knew very well how Damian closed himself in his shell when he was pressed.When he was comfortable, Alfred would be with his arms and ears open to hear him.

Alfred walked back to the kitchen, leaving a sighing and thoughtful Damian at the dinner table, just as the voices of hungry young kids filled the place. Alfred liked to hear all the voices of Bruce's children together like that, he still remembered when it was just Bruce and Alfred in that huge mansion, the silence that took over the place when Martha and Thomas died and the sadness that weighed on their walls.

One by one, the house that once looked like a Masoleu haunted by the Wayne ghosts became noisy at this time of year, first Dick and with him, Barbara who ended up being part of the dinners as a niece Alfred liked to have around, then Jason with his rebellion... When Jason died, Alfred thought that everything would be as it was before and the silence would be part of what kept that house standing, but he was wrong and the children kept coming, so Timmy and Stephanie and Cassandra and then, Damian and Duck and sometimes, even Kate.

Those kids brought an amount of life to those walls that Alfred never thought he would see again.

Damian was still too attentive in his own cup of tea to worry about the lively conversation coming from his siblings in the other room. He knew he would become the subject as soon as they laid eyes on him.

Everyone sat around talking about something fun that happened at the party that Damian probably didn't know, and he didn't want to know, his eyes were too concerned with scanning the presents looking for a certain girl with black hair and stormy eyes.

She wasn't there then, Damian knew she must be asleep yet which made him feel a little relieved... His brothers wouldn't let them out of that breakfast alive if Raven and Damian were there. He didn't need that, especially knowing that Jason and Dick were there.

\- "Good morning Romeo..." - Jason's voice sounded in the whole room - "Where's your towel Juliet?"

\- "You shouldn't be here so soon..." - Damian murmured eating a toast - "Not that I care..."

\- "I just got here, little bat..." - Jason grunted smiling and throwing himself in the chair next to Damian - "And you care, I told you yesterday..." - He smiled - "Apparently you didn't follow my advice and that's why you're in a bad mood..."

\- "Shut up..."

\- "What advice?"

\- "Damian taking Jason's advice, this is a new thing..."

\- "Apocalypse?"

\- "Raven effect?"

\- "This leads us to the question, where Damian was last night and... Who won the bet?"

\- "I can't say" - Jason grunted smiling - "But... You owe me 100 bucks..."

\- "What?"

\- "oh mY GOD"

\- "Did Damian have good luck?"

\- "Damian you naughty bastard!"

\- "You know you need to prove it, right?"

\- "Do you not trust your little brother who cheated death?"

\- "That's exactly why we don't trust you, Jason..."

\- "Can you please stop?" - Damian grunted angrily - "You are idiots and you embarrassed not only me, but Raven too with your stupid game yesterday... Raven is not your new toy..."

\- "Awn Dami... That's what the brothers are for... To make you feel ashamed around the girls"

\- "And he went into super protective mode..."

\- "You will see the super protective mode when I punch your stupid face..."

\- "Totally protective..."

\- "I'm not going to submit myself to this when you guys should be pissing Todd off by running to have sex with Harper over a text message..."

\- "I wanted a normal breakfast... Just one" - Duke murmured with his mouth full of cake

\- "You should have given up on that already, Duke... Nothing in this family is normal..."

\- "Technically it was a call..."

\- "Fuck it..." - Damian rolled his eyes - "You have something unresolved that they should irritate, not me..."

\- "I didn't need to hear that..."

\- "You have something unresolved, Dami..." - Jason laughed - "Do you want me to repeat what I said to you yesterday? I can repeat..."

\- "No..." - Damian grunted annoyed - "Can we please pass this on and focus on what we have to do today? I intend not to have to go back to Gotham because of the Cobblepot when the holiday is over... A few days in that damn city is enough..."

\- "You didn't used to hate Gotham like that, little D..."

\- "Actually, you hated San Francisco..."

\- "Now he loves San Francisco... How cute..."

\- "Totally Raven effect"

\- "I don't love San Francisco...! And I don't love Gotham..." - Damian almost shouted, his voice getting almost thin and making his brothers laugh. He was lost, he definitely wouldn't make it out of this breakfast alive... And he probably wouldn't make it out alive for the rest of the weekend.

\- "So," - Cassandra muttered from across the room - "You and Roy? Are you going to take on this thing or not, Jason?"

\- "And why take over?" - Jason shrugged - "It's sexual... Physical thing..."

\- "OF COURSE..." - Everyone's voices came together in one chorus

\- "You lie more than Damian, Jason..." - Barbara rolled her eyes

\- "You have had this 'physical thing' for years and you don't even hide it..."

\- "And...?"

\- "You like each other, but you are two cowards to assume that..."

\- "Don't come and put Dami's sign on me... Why nobody talked about Cass yesterday with Emiko...? Yes Cass... Everyone saw... You can't hide how gay you are around her..."

\- "What? I did nothing..."

\- "Cass?"

\- "I didn't know that Emiko liked girls..."

\- "Oh..."

\- "She's Bi" - Damian murmured - "We talked about... But she asked me to keep it secret because she hasn't talked about it with her family yet..."

\- "Well, everyone saw her and Cass dancing and talking yesterday..."

\- "So Cass is a lesbian? Or..?"

\- "I thought you already noticed..."

\- "Wait, Cain and Queen..."

\- "Kissed? Nobody knows... But they volunteered to go look for the two of you together yesterday and then... Nobody else saw them too..." - Dick grumbled

\- "Oh Wayne's garden, the most romantic place in town... First Damian and Raven, then Cass and Emiko"

\- "And Cass always had a huge crush on Emiko..."

\- "A crush? She and Damian compete who has a greater crush on a girl and doesn't have the courage to speak..."

\- "Wait, nobody tell me anything in this house?" - Tim murmured looking shocked to Cassandra who just shrugged - "Really? Since when? Why didn't I know that you liked girls?"

\- "I didn't think you needed to have a family reunion for that kind of thing, Timothy..." - She grunted without paying attention to Tim, who still had his mouth open

\- "But you and Emiko..."

\- "No..." - Cassandra had a funny smile on her lips - "But... We talked and just... We are going to the cinema tomorrow, before she goes back to San Francisco..."

\- "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH"

\- "Take notes with Cass, Dami!"

\- "That's my girl..."

\- "Boys..."

\- "Use condom!"

\- "Jason!"

\- "What? Safe sex always!"

\- "It's really too much to ask for a normal family..."

\- "This family will never be normal... If we stay normal, we die of boredom..."

\- "And that's just breakfast..."

\- "I really don't want to see when dinner comes..." - Barbara grunted laughing as she received a tender kiss from Dick on her cheek. Damian found himself watching the scene and making a mental note of how Barbara smiled slightly and closed her eyes when Dick touched his lips to her cheek and how Dick caressed Barbara's cheek.

All very fast, but still very tender

Damian found himself wanting to be tender that way with someone, someone who was sleeping upstairs, probably wrapped in blankets up to his head. Damian took a deep breath, pushing that feeling to the bottom. It was stupid, he now sounded like Dick, what was the next step? Hear Abba?

This sentimentality was acting on him like a virus, taking every cell he had and he needed to ignore it. He would be able to ignore that if he just kept focusing on everything around him except the thoughts that insisted on wanting to get out of his mind.

_Everything would be fine..._

_He just needed focus..._

_And don't think about..._

\- "Raven!"

_Fuck_

Raven was standing in the doorway of the room, her eyes still sleepy, her hair a little messy and holding the hem of her sweatshirt that she had worn the night before, borrowed by Roy. Damian felt several things when he saw her there, but none of them were good ...In fact, he felt everything too much

\- "Erm... Good morning..." - Her voice was so low and hoarse that you could hardly hear it, but Damian heard it perfectly, every syllable, every letter as if he had a super hearing - "Hmm... I... I ended up sleeping a lot and missing breakfast..."

\- "Relax, birdie..." - Dick smiled friendly - "We just woke up too..."

\- "And I bet Damian would keep a hearty breakfast for you, anyway... He would probably take it to your room himself..." - Damian kicked Jason under the table - "Ouch!"

\- "Erm..." - Raven blinked a few times, her cheeks turning pink as she put a lock of hair behind her ear, her eyes meeting Damian's in the same instant - "Okay? Thank you... I think..."

\- "Come, sit with us..." - Tim murmured, getting up from the chair next to Damian and pulling Raven to sit.

\- "Thank tou Tim..." - Raven murmured smiling as she sat down - "You didn't have to get up, I could sit anywhere..."

\- "Of course not, Rae... You can sit here with Dami..."

\- "Timothy Drake!"

\- "What?" - Raven smiled looking at the two - "Ahnnn... Good morning, Damian... I didn't see you arriving yesterday...."

\- "Ahnn... I-... You..."

Damian felt his heart beat and turn in his chest, as if it could get out of his throat and run away. His hands were sweating more than usual and he could have sworn his legs were shaking. He felt too anxious and that was a horrible feeling. He felt that if he said something, his heart would really come out of his mouth. Why did he have to feel that way? It was just her...

Raven...

The girl he never knew how to act when she was around and who always made him smile when she giggled and that he always wanted to touch, even if it was only for a few seconds.

He was lost... Really lost...

\- "Damian... Are you okay?" - Raven's voice reached his ears at the same time that her eyes landed on his face and her hand landed on his hand.

Was her hand too cold or was he feeling feverish?

\- "Damian... Talk to us..."

\- "Oops... I think we broke the Dami..."

\- "He is a little pale" - Cassandra murmured looking curiously at Damian - "What is something, when it comes to Damian, who never gets sick..."

\- "Hey D" - Tim put his hand on Damian's shoulder - "Are you feeling well?"

\- "I..." - Damian opened his mouth, but closed it again. Raven's hand was still on top of his. He looked at the contrast of her pale skin against his olive tone. Did she know she was killing him?

Damian looked at her face wondering what to say, but simply, his mind went completely blank and he was left with no reaction. The only thing he could feel was Raven's concerned look at him and that strange sensation rising in his throat.

Damian felt sick.

Anxiety sucks

\- "Damian?"

Oh shit, he already felt sick and he needed to get out of there.

\- "Damian if you are there... Blink please if you are alive..."

\- "I'm... I'm sorry" - Damian tasted bile rising in his mouth and got up running from the table. He urgently needed to find a bathroom before he threw up on the mansion floor. He heard his brothers' voices still calling him behind, but if he didn't put it out, he was going to suffocate.

Damian threw himself on the bathroom floor, dropping his head into the toilet while letting everything go. He felt he would never stop vomiting.

\- "Hangover sucks..." - Dick grunted against the wall - "But... It is a good teaching, you shouldn't drink, D..."

\- "Oh Dick... You say like you never drank when you were a teenager..."

\- "Get out of here, you two..." - Tim grunted rolling his eyes, with a cup of coffee in his hands.

\- "Okay... Time for Tim to give advice..." - Jason mumbled leaving - "Just a tip, he is the biggest hardhead I know... I gave him a advice yesterday, if he had followed, he had sweated and lost all this alcohol in his body, wouldn't be hungover and would have lost his virginity, too..."

\- "Shut... Up, Todd" - Damian grunted, pointing his middle finger at Jason, his face still turned towards the toilet.

\- "Jay and Dick... Out..." - Tim grunted pushing the two older brothers out of the door as he locked it. Damian took a deep breath and leaned his forehead against the white marble in the bathroom, taking a deep breath to try to get everything back to normal.- "Finished?"

\- "What you want?" - Damian murmured with his hands over his eyes, trying to rearrange his head.

\- "This is not a hangover..." - Tim grunted leaning against the door, his arm crossed over his chest as he calmly drank the cup of coffee.

\- "Dick is right... I drank a glass or two of champagne yesterday..."

\- "You drank beer at that party I gave, Damian..." - Tim raised his eyebrow - "I remember very well that you even went to bed because you had to change clothes, since they had spilled beer on you..."

\- "Hm..."

\- "You're in love with her, aren't you...?

\- "Hm... Where did you get that from?"

\- "You were fine before Raven arrived, but you were like that when she entered the room. You were pale and shaky..." - He grunted - "You were nervous around her, anxious..."

\- "I don't know where you got this..." - Damian murmured getting up and going to the sink to wash his face. He looked terrible, as if he had vomited his soul out of his body.

\- "I know what I'm talking about because it happened to me too... When I found out that... I really liked Conner as more than a friend... I stayed just like this..."

\- "What are you talking about...?"

\- "About you liking Raven... About how you feel around her... "

\- "You don't know anything about how I feel about her!"

\- "I know! Believe me, Damian... I know how you feel! Nervous to be around her, afraid to fuck up everything, scared by new feelings that you don't know and anxious to solve everything... I felt it all when I found out that I liked Conner and I'm sure Dick and Jason felt it too... I also vomited when he approached..." - Tim shrugged - "And I know that will continue as long as you don't assume to her and to yourself that you like her and want to be with her..."

\- "I'm not afraid of anything!"

\- "You are afraid of what you feel for her and it's okay... You need to admit it..." - Tim took a deep breath - "Damian... Seriously, admit it... Say it at once..."

\- "I..."

\- Admit it Damian..."

\- "I..." - Damian felt like he was going to throw up again - "I..."

\- "Say, Damian... Or you'll be puking every time..."

\- "I..." - Damian closed his eyes - "I... I like Raven... I like her even though I don't want to like it, I like how she smiles and I like the blue of her eyes, I like the softness of her lips and I like her... Too much..."

\- "Wow... This..." - Tim smiled and patted Damian proudly on the shoulder - "This is a start..."

\- "But... But I... I don't want..." - Damian put his hand on his face - "I... I don't want this... I don't want to feel this..."

\- "You can't have control over that..." - Tim smiled

\- "This is stupid..." - Damian rolled his eyes - "I don't want to like her, she doesn't like me... I don't want this..."

\- "Well... You don't know if she doesn't like you... You can answer for your own feelings, but not for her feelings..." - Tim chuckled - "I think you should be honest with her..."

\- "I... I don't know..."

\- "Don't know what?"

\- "I don't know how to do that..." - Damian took a defeated deep breath. He needed help, he knew it and he didn't know how to ask... Damian was taught to turn around to solve his own problems and he was good at it, but how was he supposed to do it when he hadn't been prepared for it.

\- "Although you think not... That's what the brothers are for..." - Tim laughed, crossing his arms - "We can help you talk to her... And call her for a romantic date..."

\- "For God's sake, don't involve Dick and Jason in this..."

\- "Too late little brother..." - Jason shouted from the other side of the door

\- "Let's be your cupid..." - Tim laughed putting his arm on Damian's shoulder, while Jason and Dick entered the bathroom again, both with a smile that Damian knew meant trouble... He knew he would regret it, but he I couldn't say no.

\- "Let's solve that Cobblepot problem and then, let's all talk about it and outline the plan for Damian to have his first girlfriend..."

\- "I will regret this..."

\- "Of course not... If you follow our advice you will end up with a beautiful and intelligent girlfriend who clearly likes you too..."

\- "Whatever..." - Damian rolled his eyes - "I doubt that will work"

\- "We have our girls, don't we? Leave it to us..." - Jason smiled, a huge smile going from ear to ear, looking at Damian, who felt defeated, failed and embarrassed. He didn't want to admit it out loud, he didn't want those words to come out of his mouth because he knew that when he spoke, he couldn't go back...

It would become real and he would have to face the fact that he was falling in love with a girl he was sure up until then that he hated. He didn't want to admit to himself that he never hated Raven, that the first moment he entered that classroom and his eyes met the ocean storm that her eyes had, he fell in love with her.

It was one thing to admit it to yourself in the darkness of the room, quite another to say it to three other people... People who wouldn't let him out alive after that.

Two years disguising and confusing everything he felt about her with an irritation that even he couldn't control. That's why he always teased her, why he always wanted her attention for him, why he felt so angry when she didn't hit him and why he always wanted to hear her voice saying _"Wayne"_... He liked it too much to hear her say his name, there was something about how she said it always made him shiver.

He liked her, from the first moment, from the first teasing and there was no way he could go back now. Tim, Dick and Jason would make sure not to let him go back.

And then there was fear...What if she got scared of it all? What if she didn't share the same feeling? What if it spoiled their new and fragile friendship? They were being charismatic with each other no more than two or three months and they still fought from time to time... Raven was the only real friend that Damian had and he didn't know if he could bear it being different with him because of of a stupid feeling.

Damian felt the fear turn to a bile and acid in his stomach again, he didn't want to vomit but, he felt that those worries would make him stay like this all day.

\- "I... I don't want to talk about it ... Not now, not too soon..."

\- "And why? Look, this is going to get worse..."

\- "I need to get used to it... I wasn't trained for this sentimental thing, okay? I don't even know how to tell her that she is beautiful without making her laugh the way I say..." - Damian took a deep breath - "I... I need to disconnect from this a little..."

\- "We already said, we'll be your cupid..." - Jason smiled - "Even if we need to put a bug in your ear and to help you talk to her..."

\- "What if I ruin everything? What if she doesn't feel anything? What I'll do?"

\- "Well... This is the hard part... But we all went through a kick in the ass, it hurts at first, but it always passes, and soon... You like someone else..." - Jason crossed his arms - But, after yesterday, I sincerely doubt that she will leave you in the friend zone..."

\- "I doubt it too..." - Dick grunted smiling - "She asked me several times about you and Emiko yesterday..."

\- "And what did you say?"

\- "The truth..." - Dick shrugged - "That Raven is the first girlfriend you brought to meet the family..."

\- "Great, now she must think I dated the whole goddamn Gotham City..."

\- "Damian, she certainly thought that already..."

\- "Well, so now she's sure"

\- "So it will be great for you to open up with her, open your heart and show that she is unique... Girls like this thing..."

\- "Hey, gossips..." - Stephanie's voice came from outside the bathroom - "Are you going to be chattering there in the bathroom for the rest of the day or are you going out? Rose is here... Me and she are going to take Raven out for shopping..."

\- "Rose? Rose Wilson?" - Damian stuck his head out the door. Tim quickly panicked the rest of the door, ready to run if Rose was there.

\- "And what other Rose would it be, Damian?"

\- "Whatever... This is great..." - Damian grunted leaving the bathroom and trying to compose himself

\- "Are you okay, Dami?"

\- "I'm fine, Brown..." - He rolled his eyes - "It was just a hangover... I drank champagne yesterday..."

\- "Oh..."

\- "Anyway..." - He shrugged - "Good that Wilson is here... Anyone else come?"

\- "That blonde and more reserved girl with short hair is also here..."

\- "Markov..."

\- "That must be it..."

\- "Is Logan here too?"

\- "Who?"

\- "Garfield Logan... A guy with green hair... Is he here?"

\- "No..."

\- "Jeeeealousy..." - Jason hummed behind Damian's back

\- "Shut up, Todd..."

\- "Oh... Wait... Damian likes Garfield?"

\- "What? No!"

\- "Try a little Steph..."

\- "Wait..." - Stephanie looked closely at Damian and then opened her mouth in a huge O shape before she started jumping and clapping - "OH! Oh my gosh! The little brat likes Raven!"

\- "Shiiii"

\- "He hasn't told her yet Steph, you don't want a megaphone to announce before something romantic, do you?"

\- "Oh my God! This is awesome... Totally awesome...! Oh my god I should have noticed the looks and how she said about Damian being nice to her! Oh my gosh! You are going to make such a beautiful couple and I can't wait for her to always come to Gotham and spend the weekends here! I loved her!"

\- "Definitely Stephanie is the most emotional of us all..."

\- "Wait, what did she say about Damian?"

\- "Wait, what did she say about me?"

\- "Girls' secret, Dami... I can't reveal..." - She giggled - "But I hears compliments... And sighs... She's totally into him... Like, one hundred percent into him..."

\- "Fuck," Damian grunted, rolling his eyes.He couldn't imagine Raven as Stephanie painted and he honestly couldn't believe that Raven liked him. He was not worthy of it, he never was, he never would be...

His mother and grandfather did him a favor to remember this at all times of his childhood.

\- "Well... Anyway..." - Stephanie muttered, still euphoric - "This is too amazing, isn't it? Dick with Babs, Jason and Roy, Cass hanging out with Emiko, Dami finally showing that there is life inside this heart-shaped concrete and falling in love with someone, Timbo and me... I think Duke just needs to find a loved one and we can all have a sixfold date... And I don't even know if it exists..."

\- "And it sounds strange, saying so... It looks like it's an orgy between twins siblings..."

\- "Gross..."

\- "Jason and his unnecessary comments..." - Stephanie rolled her eyes

\- "Anyway, Brown... - Damian crossed his arms - "I... I need you to keep Raven away from the docks today... Keep her busy in Gotham's shopping area, away from anything that might make her have a damn idea to get close to the bay..."

\- "Ah... Cobblepot problem..."

\- "Exactly... Cobblepot problem... Today we got these damn explosives and I can stop thinking about damn explosive penguins..."

\- "I'm surprised that Damian hasn't brought any penguins home until today..."

\- "He wanted to bring" - Dick grunted laughing - "Bruce didn't allow..."

\- "It was temporary!" - Damian muttered with his hands up - "I would send them back to a safe place in the Arctic!"

\- "So how do you keep that thing in a super safe place right below us?"

\- "Don't call Goliath a "thing"... He is my companion, my friend..."

\- "Whatever..."

\- "Keeping Rae away from the pier, great..." - Stephanie smiled - "But... I need investments, Dami..."

\- Nice try, Brown... Raven is proud as hell, will not accept that you buy things for her especially if she knows the money is mine..."

\- "She doesn't need to know..." - Stephanie winked at Damian and held out her hand - "Come on, credit card, little bat brat..."

\- Today Wayne Enterprise officially declares bankruptcy..." - Jason grunted laughing

\- "It's in my room..." - Damian said, letting out the air slowly - "I'll get it... But, any conversation about what you heard here, you'll regret being born, Brown... I'm serious..."

\- "Okay, Dami..." - Stephanie rolled her eyes - "Not to mention her little crush on her, not to mention your dirty little secret and without taking her to the pier... Got it..."

\- "Great..." - Damian grunted and left the bathroom - "Drake, Dick... Let's settle this matter quickly..."

\- "Damian is definitely the bat's son..." - Tim grunted - "I never saw anyone not like to take time off..."

\- "I have to solve this before the holidays, Drake... But, this week I still have some things to solve in San Francisco so, I prefer that everything be solved this weekend and so, we can give the Cobblepot issue as closed before the parties..." - Damian had a raised eyebrow - "And we have to take advantage that the tracks are hot and that they will take advantage of all the media focus on my father's wedding to finish the unloading of contraband explosives... You know that the work doesn't end only in that..."

\- "The work never really ends..."

\- "On this, I have to agree..."

\- "So, we meet down there in half an hour to draw up the plan?"

\- "Yes... And we left at dusk..."

\- "Wait..." - Stephanie murmured behind them - "If you are going to do all the tactical work at dusk, why do I have the order to keep Raven away?"

\- "I doubt you get home before nightfall, Brown..." - Damian murmured - "Besides, I heard that you opened a new Macy's store... Apparently the largest in the world..."

\- "Okay... Now you have my attention... They will definitely have to get me out of that place using force!" - Stephanie practically shouted, walking back to the breakfast table - "Get ready Raerae... We are going to buy the whole Macy's!"

\- "Girls..." - the three boys answered together, shaking their heads.

Damian took a deep breath and decided he had had enough breakfast that day, he wasn't sure if it would all happen again when he saw Raven again, but he chose not to risk it... His head should be one hundred percent focused on the mission that Bruce had left for them.

It was a quick thing, finding out the location, the used boat and locking everything up. Hopefully, Damian would return to the mansion before dinner, and then he could think of how not to throw up due to nervousness around Raven. It would be embarrassing when he no longer had the excuse of a hangover.

Bruce, Duck and Cass would be on the other side of town, taking care of Cobblepot and his penguins in the frozen nightclub... Almost none of them besides Damian or Dick liked to work alongside Bruce, but Bruce already had problems the other time taking Damian... The boy had a compulsion to save animals.

Alfred started having to adapt the supper animals to something that was already dead from the supermarket... He still remembered the mess in his kitchen when Damian insisted on save Jerry the turkey.

And the cow, and _whatthefuckGoliathwas_, and cats and dogs everywhere...

Bruce didn't need penguins too...

If it depended on Damian, Wayne's manor would be a big zoo...

Damian, Dick, Cass, Tim and Barbara joined the cave shortly after Stephanie, Tara and Raven left. Barbara would apparently accompany the entire mission as a commissioner in GCPD and was therefore there to know how to act. Damian tried to focus on his mission and what his role would be in this whole thing, but nothing took Raven's eye off him before he ran like an idiot into the bathroom.

Did she really care about him?


	19. Chapter 19

When night fell and Gotham went dark as a ghost town, Damian, Tim, Dick and Jason went out towards the pier, Barbara was going to organize the men at the police station while Cass, Duke and Bruce went towards Oswald's _"supposed venture"_ Cobblepot, aka Penguin.

Everything would be quick and Damian was thinking of ways to escape a possible conversation with his brothers about "plans" to win over Raven. He now saw that it had been a complete mistake to accept this help from his brothers and hoped that the weariness of a mission would make them forget about it. With all the luck in the world, this matter would be dead until Christmas, when Raven wasn't at the mansion and he could run away again.

But of course, luck was never on his side...

\- "So..." - Dick's voice sounded in the listening they used... Damian sounded cold, if Bruce was also listening, his life would be lost forever - "Red Hood, Robin and Red Robin are you listening?"

\- "Loud and clear, Nightwing..."

\- "Batman is here too?"

\- "No?"

\- "Jesus Christ... Robin's voice sounded like Batman's voice"

\- "Don't overdo it, Nightwing"

\- "You know he thinks we talked too much..." - Jason laughed on the other side - "He probably has the communicator connected directly to Alfred... Besides, we are very far away... He wouldn't listen"

\- "Hmm... What is your position?"

\- "Everything is quiet here... No sign of the vessel"

\- "Also here..."

\- "Everything is going according to plan, but my hands are itching for some action..."

\- "You should have gone with the old man" - Tim practically muttered - "We don't want to draw attention... One slip and all this goes into space..."

\- And lose the fun of kicking these poor people and still having to endure the pain in the ass that is Batman? No fucking way..."

\- "How long do we have to wait?" - Damian grunted watching the timer

\- "Hmm... From 20 to 30 minutes... The boat is scheduled to arrive between 22:00 and 22:30 according to the emails exchanged... Cobblepot plans that the explosives will be deployed during the night and he can "kidnap" the city at dawn... We will act as soon as it docks and carefully..." - Dick murmured - "No katanas, Robin..."

\- "Okay..." - Damian growled under his breath in annoyance.

He hated it when he couldn't use his Katana... It was the most fun part of missions and patrols.

\- "So... 30 minutes?" - Jason sounded laughing

\- "I think we can start thinking of a plan for little D..."

\- "Red, can't you keep quiet?"

\- "Look, there's only one person who calls me Red and you don't want to know when he does that..."

\- "I'm going to mute you..."

\- "No... You will want to hear my ideas..."

\- "I'm definitely already regretting..."

\- "Hey Robin, look..." - Dick said in his soothing voice - "let's do something that you feel comfortable with and that is romantic and that she likes okay? You guys have been friends, right?"

\- "We're trying..." - Damian took a deep breath - "Look... I... I'd rather die with this, okay? You keep telling me to let me fail once and that this is normal but... I want to fail now... I... I can't do this... You are planning something without counting variables, without knowing what it would be her answer and you are betting on a positive answer... I don't... I don't want to... I'm not going to say anything to her... I can't say anything to her..." - Damian bit his lip - "You can call it what you want and yes, I'm being a coward... But I don't want to deal with her no... I don't want to lose her friendship...."

_Silence_

\- "Hey, relax D... I can see you hyperventilating from here... Take a deep breath and relax... The bird is not here..." - Jason spoke on the other side - "Do you want to die with that kept? Okay, it's your right... But think about what I said to you yesterday... She's a nice girl and she's into you... She kisses you back and she cares about you enough to visit you when you are hurt... I know that your grandfather and your mother did things to you, made you believe that this was a waste of time and your choice, but it is not..." - Damian closed his eyes - "You like her and you said that... It was a huge step for you to admit it out loud... Don't you want to talk to her about it? Good, you don't have to talk... Neither I, Timbo nor old D will make you do this, but this doubt will eat you up, you'll spend the rest of your unhappy days wondering "what if" and in my view, having a broken heart for a 'I love you, but not this way' is less worse than living with a doubt about something that could have changed your life..."

_Silence again..._

\- "Wow..."

\- "Did Red just give good loving advice without saying any reference to sex?" - Tim said from the other side, Damian could hear the surprise in his voice

\- "I can advise D how to eat her up and finger her without getting lost in his pants in first time they have sex as soon as he accepts my help to catch the bird"

\- "Shut up, Todd..."

\- "Oh... There's old Jay..."

\- "Names, guys..." - Dick sounded alert on the other side - "Without naming names..."

\- "Oh... My bad, Nightwing"

\- "Sorry, perfect boy wonder..."

\- "We were all boy wonder, Red... It's not a insult..."

\- "Anyway..." - Dick said a little louder - "What do you decide, Robin? Despite the regrets, Red is right... You have to decide..." - Damian took a deep breath with his hands on his face, over the mask.

He knew it was a mistake to let his brothers help him with this, he would regret it bitterly and probably pass some kind of shame on, but he knew it was the help he didn't know how to ask for. And that doubt was already eating him alive, he didn't know if he could look at Raven again without feeling like he was on fire and dying.

He knew that this time, just this time, he didn't know what to do and the only way to end this anguish in his chest was to follow the stupid advice from his older brothers or die wondering if Raven ever felt the same way for him. And that second option would consume him alive and he knew himself well enough to know that it would ruin him.

Damian came to the unfortunate conclusion that he had no choice.

\- "Well..." - He grunted, leaning his head against a metal drum that he was leaning against - "I think at least this time, Red convinced me to do a big stupidity... I know I will regret it but..."

\- "Did I manage to convince the mini bastard? Oh my god, someone has to pinch me..."

\- "Red! Don't make him regret it now!" - Dick said with a smile in his voice

\- "Look, it doesn't happen every day! I need to celebrate... Usually he tells me to shut up, point the middle finger or do both... He never takes my advice!"

\- "Anyway...!" - Dick's voice went up an octave - "So Robin, since the two of you are very close you probably know things she likes, her favorite things and how she is" - Damian could see Tim and Jason's giggles on the other side of listening - "Like favorite color or favorite movie..."

\- "Hmm... Do I need to say that now? In the middle of important work?"

\- "Relax... We still have 15 minutes..."

\- "Hm..." - Damian took a deep breath and scratched his chin - "Her favorite band is an old Constantine band and her favorite book is Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice... She is definitely obsessed with Jane Austen, I lost count of how many times I've seen her read and reread Pride and Prejudice... I even gave her a copy that we had in the library"

\- "Did you give someone a book of the Wayne library? "

\- "You little dirty bastard, you've been flirting with her! "

\- "No! I wasn't flirting! And yes, Red Robin, I gave someone a book from our library... She liked it, I didn't see why I couldn't give her a book she liked and it would be special..."

\- "Oh so we have a Mr Darcy?" - Jason scoffed on the other side - "The personalities seem alike, by the way... We should dress you like him and put you to walk around the house behind her..."

\- "Shut up, Red..."

\- "Anything else, D?"

\- "Hm... She likes chamomile tea... And strong black coffee and... Her favorite color is blue and purple... She smells like lavender which is the perfume that her mother used before leaving her with her aunt and she's afraid she'll never be able to find it when the bottle runs out... Her favorite flowers are daisies and she likes to hum the same song every day before class starts... She prefers juices to soft drinks, but she loves Pepsi cola" - Damian took a deep breath - "And she's not a big fan of sweet foods, but she eats cotton candy like there's no tomorrow... And..."

\- "Aww... He knows everything about her... This is creepy, weird and cute at the same time..."

\- "AND...?"

\- "And... Oh no, that's stupid... She made me promise that I would never say that to anyone..."

\- "What?"

\- "Oh no... No, no, no... Now you NEED to speak...

\- "I promised..."

\- "She will never know you told us..."

\- "And you think I trust you? You will not leave both of us alone if you know this...."

\- "Too late, bat kid..."

\- "Spill it out..."

\- "Fuck..." - Damian spat - "She... She told me yesterday that... She... Oh god, you will talk about it until the day I die..."

\- "Let's go little D... We don't have all night..."

\- "She... She likes Robin..."

\- "SHE WHAT?"

\- "THIS IS DEFINITELY A GIFT FROM THE GODS"

\- "REPEAT BECAUSE I THINK MY COMMUNICATOR FAILED..."

\- "Shii! You are screaming!"

\- "Oops..."

\- "I had forgotten about that..." - Dick laughed like a lively little girl and Damian could see from afar he lightly tapping one hand on the other - "Repeat again what you said... But... Explain... She... Does she like Robin?"

\- "Yeah..." - Damian took a deep breath - "She... Oh fuck, this is ridiculous... She said she thought Robin was cute... A little pretty, maybe... She asked me if I knew him... She has an irrational fear of Batman but, I wanted to meet Robin... Does this make sense?"

\- "Oh"

\- "Oh"

\- "Oh"

\- "I definitely hated all these _'Oh'_

\- "Guys... Is that an idea?"

\- "It always works, of course it's an idea!"

\- "He won't accept..."

\- "Hey, I'm still here..."

\- "So... She wanted to meet Robin then... Why not go to her like Robin?"

\- "Two birds with one stone"

\- "Have you gone crazy?"

\- "No... Seriously D... It's the perfect opportunity..."

\- "Maybe she even gave you tips... Maybe she knows that you are Robin..."

\- "Impossible..."

\- "No, it's not impossible..." - Dick murmured

\- "I can't expose this to her, not now... This... It's too much information... What happened to flowers and chocolates?"

\- "No flowers and chocolates when it is with us, D..."

\- "Okay, do you think she can break down if you dump you like her and it's Robin? Okay... So just use the costume to your advantage... Be a Romeo robin, go up to her tower, stay in the dark, say you like her or know someone who likes her... Create a romance..."

\- "Fool her?"

\- "No... Create a romance... Make her live a true Jane Austen tale between a hero and a young lady... And then, she will love you as she loves Robin..."

\- "This would never work..."

\- "Of course it would work..."

\- "It always works..."

\- "Girls love that latex uniform..."

\- "Boys too..."

\- "They and they always find it super sexy..."

\- "Wait... Are you telling me that you use your costumes to seduce people?"

\- "Yes?"

\- "Why not?"

\- "Maybe?"

\- "You don't?"

\- "No!"

\- "Even the old man uses that trick, Robin... It's sexy..."

\- "What are you talking about, for God's sake!"

\- "Wait... Batman never sent you home after he captured Catwoman?"

\- "What? Yes but-"

\- "Robin..."

\- "They have sex on the roofs like cats in heat in latex suits and everything... This even gotham rats know..."

\- "Oh my god I want to vomit... I didn't need to hear this"

\- "Look... It's fun... And you can make it romantic..."

\- "We are proof that it always works... There is something about the superhero costume that excites people... Go to a stripper club for you to see, there will always be one with heroin clothes..."

\- "I not only use it but I make exchanges... It's much more fun..."

\- "Wait, are you saying you let Roy wear your helmet?"

\- "Hmm... Yes? And not only him... Remember Artemis? Oh..."

\- "You won't let us touch your helmet, Red...!"

\- "Well, as far as I remember I don't have sex with you..."

\- "Oh... Gross..."

\- "I'll put you on the mute... All of you..." - Damian grunted

\- 'No!" - Dick almost shouted at him, looking over the drum he was leaning against. A boat was approaching, they would have to leave the conversation for later

\- "Look... You don't have to seduce her like Robin... Just use this as an advantage... If she doesn't like it, she'll never know it was you... And if she knows it's you, they'll have something to laugh about in a few months..."

\- "Don't be a constipation, Robin... Be free! Now... Time to work... I still can't believe you convinced me to use blanks, Nightwing..."

\- "Orders from the old bat, Red... Come on, the training we trained and please be very careful... One wrong attack and we blew up Gotham Pier and so did we..."

\- "I already died once, I don't want to die again... I have a date tomorrow..."

\- "We have all died Red..."

-"'Fuck it..." - Damian rolled his eyes and, following Dick's command, got out from behind the drum just as the boat was anchored to the pier. He missed the action he didn't have in San Francisco, he had been banned from taking the costume to the golden coast as a punishment for stealing the batmobile and almost killing a gangster and the little moments when he found himself enjoying himself more when he could do it something when he got back to Gotham.

But this time, the adrenaline didn't run through his vein and he found it... too easy...

And despite that he still managed to get hurt, that didn't bring the adrenaline rush he wanted to feel... His mind was too busy with what his brothers had said. He shouldn't have listened to his brothers, his head was a mess now and his mind was a buzz. He couldn't concentrate enough to get out of the fight unscathed and it cost him some injuries that were almost too serious.

He dodged punches and kicks a few times, but a bullet grazed his arm and he only had time to think about the pain when his blood soaked his arm and shirt... It would be difficult to make up an excuse for those injuries, he would need time to think of something that would explain some points on his forearm...

He would worry about that at another time, when he didn't have to jump from side to side dodging even bigger injuries. After all, that was being Robin, fighting crime, saving people, being Batman's right-hand man or dying trying.

When the Gotham police arrived, 4 bandits were already properly knocked out and tied up and Jason was using them as a bench, but the boat was well away from the bay with the 2 rest of Cobblepot's henchmen. They were a navy problem now and at the moment, they had enough evidence and henchmen to send Oswald to Arkham once again.

Damian refused medical care when the ambulances came loud in the place, Jason still grumbled that Dick should have let him use real bullets because the bad guys used real bullets, but Damian didn't want to hear, he wanted to go home, take care of his own wounds, take a painkiller and just sleep...

He would think about what his brothers had said another time.

Dick went all the way telling Damian that this was the most romantic way for him to win over Raven, that he could climb her window or take her for a walk on the roofs of Gotham but, Damian didn't want to think about it, not when his arm was soaked in hot red blood.

A good bath, a bandage and a painkiller would solve that.

When Dick stopped the bike in the underground garage, Damian looked at his watch, almost 11:30 pm. The mansion was silent and dark, as if it were empty. Alfred should be in the cave or in the kitchen and Raven should be resting or sleeping. Stephanie was somehow requested by Bruce at some point and left Raven and Rose at the mansion before running around town as Spoiler. Damian stretched, feeling the bones crack and lowered his hood and face mask as he climbed the stairs, the mental exhaustion was much greater than the physical exhaustion and hearing his brothers say it all echoed in his head evenly... He felt like an innocent child now and that was ridiculous

He was not a child, he was 17...

All he needed was a hot bath and bandages on that bruise that was still bleeding on his arm, the bullet had ripped part of the sleeve of his robe and his skin was now exposed with a red tear.A new scar amid so many he had  
Damian frowned, taking a deep breath as he walked down the dark corridor that led to his room, the job was not over and Tim was right, it would never be.

Cleaning Gotham was like trying to dry ice with a towel, there was always a new gang, a new lunatic, a new criminal.

Damian closed the bedroom door carefully, trying to make as little noise as possible as he started to remove his uniform and leave it lying on the floor, when Dick's voice repeatedly rang in his mind.

If he wore that suit to tell Raven how he felt? If he did that until he felt comfortable enough to say it was him? If he took Raven in his arms on a tour of the city, the buildings below them? His hands were still on the button and he was unresponsive.

Was he really considering following his brothers' idea?

They had said they would organize an opportunity but, what if he did it there? At that moment when the mansion was alone and silent? What if he just came into her room and said he loved her? He would save himself from an embarrassing situation created by the 3 stooges...

Damian took a breath and let it out slowly through his nostrils, he needed a shot of courage and he knew it was there or never. If everything went wrong, if he couldn't say it, it would die there and he would think better... Raven would never know it was him, he would never talk about it with her. In a moment of impulse, Damian put the cloak over his shoulders again and ran to the window, jumping one by one until he reached the window of the guest room she was in. It was crazy and he was absolutely sure he was going crazy...

But, he needed to do something crazy, right?

Damian took a deep breath, put the mask on his eyes and the hood on his face, she would see no more than his jaw, that was enough... He just needed her to listen and he just needed to let it all go.

The window was open and the bed was messed up, but Raven was in the bathroom, probably on the phone with someone. Hearing her voice made him feel anxious again... Please don't throw up again.

Was it weird for a guy to be in the darkness of her room just waiting for her to come out of the bathroom? Yes, but Damian didn't care... He didn't want to reason...

_"Some things don't need logic,_" she had said to him the night before.

He didn't need logic, he needed to tell her...He needed her

\- "_No... It's okay..._" - she laughed - "_Yes... I walked around the city today with Rose and Damian's sister... Of course I'm eating... Alfred asks me if I want something each 30 minutes..._" - pause - "_Tomorrow night... Aunt! I'm not...! I'm not dating one of the Wayne! Who said that?_" - another pause - "_Ah... I'm not surprised... You can't believe everything Rose says... Okay... I need to hang up... Okay... Good night, Aunt Alice... I love you too... bye..._" - Damian took a deep breath and closed his eyes, he heard the sound of water running as if she was washing her hands and shortly thereafter, the bathroom door opened and Raven came out wiping the phone screen as she walked over to the bed, and Damian felt his throat close, she looked so beautiful in a purple tank top and black shorts.

He felt his legs tremble, his mind filling with images of her in his arms the night before.

\- "Raven...?" - His voice came out shaky and hoarse and for some reason, he found himself trying to make it lower...

Why did he try to change his stupid voice?

Raven jumped and looked closely at where the voice came from and Damian found himself lost in how her eyebrows came together trying to see him, Damian just had time to dodge the cell phone she threw at her

\- "Hey!"

\- "WHO'S THERE? I... I HAVE A TABLE LAMP that is probably very expensive AND I'M NOT AFRAID TO USE!"

\- "Raven... Calm down... It's me..."

\- "Me? Me who?" - She forced her eyes trying to see in the darkness

\- "I'll turn on the light, I can't see anything in this darkness"

\- "NO!" - Damian's voice came up an octave and he wanted to know - "You don't need to turn on the light... It's me..." - He took a deep breath - "Robin... Oh god this is so stupid to say out loud"

\- "Robin?"

\- "Yes..."

\- "Robin the wonder boy?"

\- "Hmm... Yes?"

\- "Robin Batman's partner in my room?"

\- "Yes..."

\- "Look! I did nothing! I didn't even want to invade that pool... It was stupid Wayne's idea... I told him that some shit was going to happen..."

\- "No! It's not about yesterday's invasion on the Queen's house that I saw here..."

\- "No?" - She frowned - "Wait how do you know it was the Queen's house?"

SHIT

\- "Hm... Because.... I... I am Robin?"

Stupid

\- "Hmm... It makes sense..." - She grimaced - "But you say as if that explains the fact that a complete stranger is in the middle of the darkness in my room and taking me by surprise..."

\- "I'm not a complete stranger... You know me and... I know you..."

\- "Impossible... It's the first time I've come to Gotham... And wait, how do you expect me to believe that you are who you say you are if I can't see you?"

\- "Hm... You're right and that's a good question because I honestly didn't think straight when I decided to do this idiocy..."

\- "Are you talking to yourself or me?"

\- "Both..."

\- "Hm... Funny, my friend does the same thing..." - She giggled and Damian felt his heart turn into pudding

\- "Here..." - He took the emblem from his chest and held it out to her. Her eyes seemed to be getting used to the darkness, she looked at the hooded figure in the darkness and took a step forward, still holding the lamp and took the emblem, taking a step back again - "So you will know it's me..."

\- "Oh... This is cool..."

\- "Yeah...?"

\- "Can I keep this?"

\- "There are several in the cave... I don't think alf-Batman will care if I lose one..."

\- "Hm..." - She put the emblem on top of the nightstand - "That still doesn't explain what you're doing here... And why you say you know me and I know you... And even how you know my name..."

\- "I know you from San Franscisco... We studied at the same school and... I know that you are the best student in the class and... That you have a huge obsession with Jane Austen. I know that you live with your aunt and... That you miss your mom the same way I miss my mom... Even if I don't admit it out loud..."

\- "This... that sounds familiar..." - Damian saw her eyes shine in a strange way - "Despite the different voice it strangely sounds familiar... I... I feel like I've heard it somewhere but... I don't remember..."

\- "I like you..." - Damian let the words come out without him noticing - "I... I like you a lot... And I wanted to tell you this looking into your eyes but, I feel like a coward for not to be able to do this without using that damn mask... I like you Raven... And I've been blind all these years because I didn't want to admit to myself that I liked someone..."

\- "..." - She had her mouth open, in a huge O shape and Damian felt the same horrible feeling as when he had vomited early in the morning. Raven was still looking at where he was in shock and Damian felt like her gaze was making him burn. Was it possible to spontaneously combust with just one look?

\- "Say something... Or I'll go crazy..."

\- "I... I don't know what to say..."

\- "Okay..." - He took a deep breath. Damian needed to do something or that silence would suffocate him - "Do you really not imagine who I am?"

\- "I don't think so..." - She shook her head in a daze - "Wait, do you like me?"

\- "More than I really wanted to like... Since Timothy's party, I can only think of ways to be close to you..."

\- "Were you at Tim's party? Oh my God..."

\- "Raven..." - He took a deep breath - I'm falling in love with you and I'm in a mental battle if what I did was stupid or inconsequential... But if I don't kiss you now I feel like I'm going to die suffocated by everything that...

\- "....OH..." - Damian took small steps towards her and slid his fingertips over her jaw. She didn't move and didn't seem to care and before anything else could be said or questioned, Damian pulled her in for a kiss. It felt like heaven and hell.

Damian now really felt like he was on fire

Raven initially looked too scared to respond to the kiss, but something clicked on her and for a moment, Damian believed she had recognized him. She dropped the lamp on the floor and returned the kiss with the same intensity. Her arms went up his arm and wrapped around his neck while she stood on tiptoe.

Damian felt like his heart was beating every inch of his body.

She had returned the kiss, that meant that maybe, just maybe, she felt the same... Maybe she had recognized him through it all and felt the same for him... Maybe his brothers were right and he could have a girl like Raven.

And then she staggered away from him

\- "Wait... No... This is not right..."

\- "What?"

\- "I... I can't do this..." - She put her hands on her face - "I... I can't kiss someone thinking about someone else..." - She looked at him - "I'm mirroring him on you... It's not right..."

\- "What are you talking about?"

\- "I don't know... You kissed me and for a moment, it looked like him... The same taste of cinnamon... Does that make sense? I don't know..."

\- "You... Do you like someone..."

\- "And I was so blind and stupid that I noticed just now that I like him a lot... I have also been a complete idiot and that all I did in that time was to hide it because..." - she laughed awkwardly - "why how would he like me?"

\- "Do you... Do you like him?" - Damian heard the sound of something breaking and he didn't know what...

He just knew it hurt

\- "Two years and I had to kiss someone different to realize this..." - She shook her head - "I... I like that idiot... That's why I agree to do all these stupid things he proposes... Rose and Tara won't let me live after that... Fuck me!" - She took a deep breath - "I'm sorry... I started chattering and I'm sorry, I was talking about someone else with you was kind of insensitive... Are you okay?"

Damian felt as if a steamroller had passed over him.

Several times

It hurt in a weird way.

It was as if he felt suffocated inside his uniform and he needed to leave, he needed air. This was too bad and he didn't want to feel it. he found himself staggering a few steps away from her.

What the hell was that chest pain? Why did he want to cry? He never cried, even when his father told him that his mother had died in a plane crash.

Why did it hurt now? Why his eyes burned like that

\- "Robin? Are you okay?"

\- "I need... I need to go..." - He managed to say through that whirlwind of bad feelings he was feeling.

Her heart belonged to another guy and there was nothing he could do about it. He always thought that she would reject him for not feeling the same, but knowing that she had another love was a thousand times much worse.

The pain was like a million shards against his body.

Raven tried to catch him, but before her hands reached his arm, Damian jumped out the window and ran aimlessly away. He saw that Raven still went to the window shouting "Wait" but, he didn't want her to see it, not when a storm threatened to fall from his eyes.

Damian stayed there for minutes or hours, he couldn't say.

The only thing he knew was that it hurt

Damian took a deep breath and decided to go back to his own room, he knew he had been an idiot to expect something and listen to his idiot brothers. Raven would never like someone like him, if only she knew who he was before arriving in this city, she would hate him for like... Forever.

Why did he create expectations for something? His destiny was to be alone like his father.

Damian took a long shower, the bruise on his arm didn't even hurt anymore and the blood was now a soggy bloody scab. He cleaned, sterilized and wrapped a bandage across the length of the wound. He didn't want to think about everything that had happened, but everything kept repeating a million times in his head.

Damian took a deep breath and walked to the training room. He needed to get it out and he could think of only one way: punch as much as his fists could get a sandbag, he was angry with himself for creating expectations of something and angry with his brothers for having put that stupidity on his head. He needed to relieve that tension or he was going to explode...

And he didn't want to explode when Dick or Jason or Tim were around, he knew that anger was irrational and just because he didn't know how to deal with feelings and pain. His whole life was about learning to turn any other feeling into fuel for anger... He didn't know how to change that now.

Raven left the room almost as soon as he slammed the door harder than necessary and Damian swallowed anything he dared to feel before it all became a messy shit.

He didn't want to be an asshole with her, she wasn't to blame for the stupid expectations he created in 24 hours just for listening to his brothers...

It was his fault alone and exclusively... As always

\- "Damian!"

\- "Erm... Hi Raven..."

\- "Ahnn... You arrived and I didn't even see..."

\- "Mmm..."

\- "Are you okay? I haven't seen you since breakfast and... Wait, are you hurt? What happened? Why do you have a bandage on your arm? Is that blood? "

\- "It's nothing... I'm fine... You need something...?"

\- "Ahnn..." - She rocked on her feet, putting a lock of hair behind her ear before looking at him from under her thick lashes, her cheeks a little pink in contrast with the pale skin - "No, actually not... I don't need anything..."

\- "Hmm, okay... Good night" - he turned on his heel and started walking again

\- "Damian..."

\- "Hmm?"

\- "Are you sure everything is fine? You're look... different... You're angry..."

\- "I'm fine..." - He took a deep breath and closed his eyes - "I just... I'm angry for having..." - _Created wrong expectations_ \- "I had a terrible night that got me in trouble..."

\- "Ah..." - She nodded - "Want a cup of tea? I think Alfred is sleeping but... I can do something and I was thinking about breaking into the fridge..."

\- "Ahnn... No... I... I was actually going to the training room..."

\- "Do you have a training room?" - She started walking beside him

\- "Yeah... I like to practice martial arts..."

\- "Wow... Cool..."

\- "But... Make yourself comfortable... I'm sure Alfred left turkey sandwiches ready for when my father and the idiots arrive..." - He forced a smile - "The house is yours this weekend too..."

\- "Ahnn... Are you sure? We can talk about it..."

\- "Punching a sandbag is the best I can do now, Raven... And I haven't done that in a long time..." - He took a deep breath - "I don't think that talking will solve my frustration..."

\- "Seriously?" - Raven had those curious eyes, waiting for him to speak - "Is it me? I ... Did I do something you didn't like? Look, If you got scolded because of yesterday... I can take the blame... I told you to leave"

\- "No... it's not you!" - Damian felt anger bubbling up inside him, why couldn't she just say something that would make him hate her again? Why did she have to keep being nice to him? Everyone hated him after a while... Why didn't she do that too? - "I took wrong advice and... It fucked up something that was very new and important to me so I'm fucking frustrated and I just want to punch something imagining that it's the face of the bastards who gave me these... Advice..."

\- "Oh... This is fucked up..."

\- "Yes... Really fucked..."

\- "Hm... Well, if you want to talk about when you're less frustrated and less in this _"I hate everyone"_ mood... You can talk to me... We're friends, right?"

\- "Yes..." - He took a deep breath - "I'm... I'm sorry Raven... I don't want to sound like an asshole now but it's just... I'm really angry with myself..."

\- "Okay... I understand... You have a way of dealing with anger that may be a little wrong, but it is your way of dealing with it and I am not a psychologist to tell you to do anything else..." - She shrugged - "Punch whatever you need to punch but... If you want to talk... We can do that when we get back to San Francisco..."

\- "Er... Okay..."

\- "Great..." - She giggled - "You will not believe the crazy thing that happened to me today..."

\- "Okay... Hmm... I... I need to train..."

\- "Ahnn... Sure....! Are you going to be okay?"

\- "It's not the first time that I get angry... So, yes..."

\- "Don't be an asshole to yourself, okay?"

\- "Okay..." - Raven stood on tiptoe and kissed Damian on the cheek before turning and walking towards the kitchen. Damian watched silently as she disappeared into the darkness as he felt all the bits inside him become more broken.

She would never see him as anything more than a friend

He needed to get used to it, needed to thank her for it

He made himself a promise not to ruin that too... Raven was his friend first of all, he would do his best to keep it going. But first, he needed to punch that anger out.

Damian stayed a long time in the gym, until his knuckles hurt and his shirt was soaked with sweat. He didn't know if he had cried again in anger or if his eye was burning from the salty sweat running down, but it was... _Satisfying_... Each punch, he remembered something stupid that his brothers advised him to do or some stupid expectation he created.

He stopped when the sun was already rising, his bandage was stained with blood again and his fingers hurt a lot, at the same time that Dick appeared at the top of the gym stairs yelling at him that he shouldn't be there and that that hurt needed care.

\- "I'm... fine! Why is everyone asking me that? What the hell!"

\- "No... You are not..." - Dick held the punching bag - "D, you are nervous about liking someone but that doesn't mean you have to neglect yourself... Come on, I'll make one better dressing on this and we're going to have coffee and talk about it? I had great ideas and-"

\- "No!" - Damian cut him off - "I don't want to hear any more from you... I did it and... And everything went wrong... And I don't like the feeling..."

\- "Wait... What?"

\- "I talked to her..." - Damian kicked the sandbag hard - "I followed your advice, Grayson... I went up to her fucking room and said everything and I kissed her...!

\- "Damian you should have waited!"

\- "FUCK IT! It doesn't matter anymore" - Damian took a deep breath - "She likes someone... She likes some other boy that I don't know who he is..." - He took a deep breath - "She said she discovered this when I kissed her..."

\- "Oh..."

\- "I wish I never found out... I don't like the feeling... It hurts... And I don't like the pain... I feel angry and... _I. Don't. I. like. it._"

\- "D... Easy... Did you say you liked her?"

\- "Like Robin..." - He took a deep breath - "I followed your damn advice and went up to her room with that damn suit..."

\- "Did she know it was you?"

\- "No... But I think she must have found out because, guess what? We kissed..."

\- "But is she likely not to know?"

\- "I think so..."

\- "And that's good..."

\- "NO...!" - Damian almost punched Dick in the direction - "I already followed you too much! This is going to die with me... I'm not going to say a shit with her about it okay? And if you say you're dead... Any of you... I'm not kidding... This time, it is not an empty threat..."

\- "You're angry and you're not reasoning properly..."

\- "So what, Grayson? And now? What do I do?" - Damian smiled wryly at Dick - "It always works... Doesn't it?"

\- "Oh... Look, look... Look at me, D..." - Dick held him - "I know this, okay...? You're hurt, I know... But... It's life... Not always you will get the girl you want, and things will not always go as planned... And it's ok to feel frustrated and cry and want to find someone to blame... But it's not by kicking a punching bag that you will get rid of this situation... It is talking and opening up..."

Damian stopped for a few seconds and took a deep breath before putting his hand on his face

\- "Why?"

\- "Why what?"

\- "Why does it hurt??" - He took a deep breath - "Why did I have to discover this ridiculous pain inside me? Why her?"

\- "Aww Dami... Because loving is painful but is beautiful too... And you're growing... Pain is part of growth" - Dick smiled crookedly - "Come on... Let's go to the infirmary to take care of that arm... It will be much worse than a broken heart if that ignite... And no girl will ever want to go out with a guy with his arm spitting yellow shit..."

\- "Shut up..." - Damian took a deep breath, following Dick with a towel around his neck - "So... What do I do now..."

\- "Following what Jason would say? You have two options..."

\- "Two?"

\- "First: You forget about it and get over it... It is what I would advise because as they say there: Better a bird in the hand, than two flying... You will prefer that she remains your friend..."

\- "And the second?"

\- "Well... The second is... A little dirty... Ande dangerous... But love is a battlefield..." - Dick raised his eyebrows - "Find out who the guy is and get rid of him..."

\- "I will not kill someone because of this..."

\- "ISN'T TO KILL... Jesus Christ, Damian... It's just a way of talking..." - Dick rolled his eyes - "Show yourself better than him, win her over and tell him to eat dust..." - Dick laughed - "So... Are you going to corner or are you still in the game, Dami? It will depend only on you..."

\- "Yes I know..."

\- "But this time... Please, think carefully before acting... We were planning something in the new year and you, her and fireworks asking her to date you... You fucked up..."

\- "Oh... So in the end, this whole shit had a positive side..."

\- "Moron..." - Dick smiled and put his arm around Damian's shoulder and pulled him into a hug. Damian took a deep breath and closed his eyes, he had a lot to think about now. But part of him, a small part, almost minimal but still, noisy was telling him to play dirty...

Oh shit... Did he never learn?


	20. Chapter 20

\- "Hey, little shit! Are you awake?"

\- "Hm??" - Damian looked up from his plate in the direction where the voice came from. Jason Todd was waving a glass of champagne overhead looking at Damian in front of him with that smile that he had discovered something too interesting in Damian's face.

Of course, he had noticed that Damian had been stirring the mashed potatoes on his plate without any intention of eat it.

The table was full and noisy, the whole family gathered in a single celebration that Damian attended just to not disappoint Alfred... He never saw much sense in the Christmas celebrations and he was not too Christian to care about that.

But it was an important moment for Alfred and he didn't mind participating in it to make Alfred happy... Alfred deserved that kind of thing. Even Dick's ex-wife was there, with the loud little Mari'i in her arms. The instant she saw Damian she ran to jump in his arms as if he were her favorite person in the world, but all just to ask where Raven was, making Damian's brothers giggle.

Raven was on the other side of the country, in San Francisco and along with her, was his mind. He couldn't stop thinking about her at almost any time, or how things went that weekend at the mansion. He knew that everything had gone wrong the moment she said she liked someone he didn't know who it was, but for some reason, it ended up bringing them closer than before. Raven always waved to him when she was away and they even studied together for the final exams.

Raven even started to kiss him on the cheek when she was leaving the place and he was almost sure that sometimes she had a light shade of pink on her face.

But then, he remembered her saying that she liked someone and then, he just shook his head and erased everything from his head. After thinking about it, he decided that Raven would be a friend and just it for him...

He didn't want to miss it either.

Dick's advice was the best to do.

Even though at times, he felt like she was flirting with him, always touching him, always giving kisses on his cheek and always smiling at what he said ... But he knew he was just being paranoid... Raven never would flirt with him if she was liking another boy... Raven wasn't that kind of girl... She was sweet, sensitive, in love with what she did, loyal and sometimes, as hardheaded as he was...  
And that was what he liked most about her...  
He didn't want to lose the thin layer of trust and friendship that had between them making her like him...  
Damian didn't like to lose a prize, he was always the winner... But now, for some stupid reason, he decided to let it go... The idea of losing Raven's company completely hurts more than the idea of losing her for another stupid boy.

And he would swallow that feeling, even though he felt like he was going to die every time she was around.

He thought that with the end of the school year and him coming back to Gotham for the holidays would make it go away, but he just couldn't stop thinking about her and so, there he was, just turning over the mashed potatoes and the peas with no interest in eating them.

\- "I'm asking where you are..."

\- "Don't be stupid, you're in front of me..."

\- "You know that's not what I'm talking about..." - Jason raised the cup to his lips with a smile - "Your body is here, but your head? Tsc... Away..."

\- "Don't piss me off, Todd..."

\- "Are you okay? After all that weekend stuff, you never talked about it again..."

\- "We are..." - Damian had a raised eyebrow - "And why wouldn't we be?"

\- "Well, you like her and she likes another guy... You said you liked her and she found out she liked another guy kissing you... I thought you would at least be embarrassed next to each other..."

\- "First... Grayson!" - Dick, who was talking to Kory and Barbara about Mari'i's education, just raised an eyebrow and shrugged his arms in high defense - "Did you tell him?"

\- "It wasn't too hard to find out after you almost tore the poor punching bag out of the training room..." - Tim shrugged

\- "You wouldn't do that if it really worked out to sneak into her room in the middle of the night..." - Jason laughed - "You would hit something else, not the punching bag from the training room..."

\- "Shut up..." - Damian rolled his eyes

\- "So I'm right... You always tell me to shut up when I'm right..."

\- "Whatever..." - Damian took a deep breath and crossed his arms - "If you are so keen to know, we are fine, she doesn't know it was me and we will continue like this..."

\- "Doesn't she know it was you?"

\- "No..."

\- "You can only be a big idiot..." - Jason grunted between giggles - "You think you missed the opportunity because she told Robin that she likes another guy, but she doesn't know that she was telling you that she liked another guy?"

\- "Yes?" - Damian had a raised eyebrow- "And you never asked her?"

\- "How would I ask if she spoke to Robin and not me?"

\- "Technically, she told you..."

\- "But she doesn't know..."

\- "Because you're an idiot...."

\- "Call me an idiot again and it will be the last thing you will talk about in your whole life, Todd..."

\- "I'm not wrong... You know I'm not wrong..." - Jason rolled his eyes - "If she doesn't know you were the guy wearing armor and a mask in her room, how do you come to the conclusion that she doesn't like you? And how come you don't think she didn't say who she liked for you for a reason? Maybe because there's a reason she didn't say to you, shit..." - Jason rolled his eyes

\- "Of course there is..." - Damian moved restlessly in the chair - "She still doesn't trust me 100% or... she thinks I'm going to say something... I don't know... The woman's head is too complicated."

\- "You are more stupid than I thought..."

\- "And why are you saying this?"

\- "If you stopped forbidding yourself you would notice that maybe, just maybe, she didn’t tell you, that is one of her best friends, who’s the person she wants to make out with is because you’re that person... She could to be talking about you exactly that night... If she knew it was you, she would probably have ridden you that night"

\- "No... She wasn't talking about me... I'm not that... Person... And... And she doesn't want to do that... She... That's disgusting... And... This is stupid..." - Damian swallowed the hope that threatened to rise from his chest and the feeling of heat that threatened to take over his stomach - "And I don't want to hear you say it again... Everything went wrong because of a stupid advice from you... From you 3... I will not lose a friend either..."

\- "Awn... You were nervous to imagine her on top of a guy, weren't you? Watch your pants..."

\- "Jason..." - Bruce murmured from across the table - "Can we have at least one normal dinner? There are children at the table..."

\- "Thanks, father..." - Damian grunted taking a deep breath. 

\- "And wait, Damian... Are you interested in a girl?Interested in that friend of yours? What's her name? Raven, right?"

\- "Father... N-no... I... I don't want to talk about it... Todd is just... Speaking a lot of bullshit... Raven is a friend... Just that..."

\- "Hm... I think we need to talk later... A conversation from... From father to son..."

\- "Oh shit..."

\- "And there we go with condoms and cucumbers and bananas..."

Bruce just rolled his eyes and turned his attention to the plate. Hearing that Damian had a love interest made him nervous after all. That meant it was time to talk to Damian about sex and he honestly didn't want to think about it.

He still considered him a child... Even though Damian was 17 years old.

Bruce wanted to sigh, it seemed yesterday that the boy had arrived at the mansion, small and dangerous, demanding lemon tea and Chinese cup.

The bushes didn't stand a chance against him... Not all of the mansion's security systems, Bruce had to update him more often in a week than he had updated in months.

And now, Damian was bigger, more responsible and liking a girl. A girl Bruce didn't know what to think. She looked nice and responsible and very polite and almost silent.

Bruce liked her, could see her fit like a glove in the family

He just wasn't ready for it yet... He didn't even enjoy the idea of having a child just for him and now, he would have to share it with passionate sighs from the corners and Damian with a deviated attention totally in beautiful blue eyes during the missions.

The last time they went out on patrol, the week before, Damian almost stepped wrong and slipped on gargoyle when the phone rang. He didn't fall because Bruce grabbed the boy by the hood, but the boy's cell phone couldn't say the same.

\- "Well... You know..." - Jason shrugged - "But think about how many times you saw her blush for someone... Maybe you find out who the guy is..."

\- "Shut up..." - Damian rolled his eyes and took a deep breath looking at the time, it was 00:30 in Gotham City, but Raven was 3 hours away from him, she was probably still getting ready for dinner.

Damian wondered how she was going to dress for this or if she cared about the festivities, whether she would wear a sweater like Alfred forced them to wear every year and whether she laughed at the stupid things she heard. He knew Rose Wilson would be with her, Raven had called him the night before he fell asleep and they talked about family festivities. Rose gave the air of grace on the call, saying something that Damian didn't understand, but that made Raven throw something at her very hard.

He heard Rose protest in the background with a sounded _"Oh... That hurt, you bitch"_

Damian wondered what her reaction would be when a certain package arrived in her hands. He had bought her a gift and hoped she would receive it on time when he called her to wish her a happy Christmas. Lucius Fox would take care of notifying him at the exact moment of delivery of the gift.

Being the son of one of the world's greatest billionaires had its advantages...

Like, finding very special editions of your best friend's favorite books (and secret passion)

Damian knew about Raven's huge obsession with Jane Austen the moment he saw her reading _Pride and Prejudice_. She was the terror of the literature class when it came to period novels and the nightmare of anyone in the class when the class was a discussion of some _Jane Austen_ book.

She always got the highest marks and left him without enough argument to fight... He hated being defeated, especially in argument.Damian had given her a copy of the Wayne library itself, a relic he had and that he knew she would like for the way her eyes lit up as she touched the book's battered spine.

There was magic in her eyes, Damian couldn't explain...

A magic he never saw in anyone's eyes. It lit her face in a way that made her more beautiful than she was before and Damian didn't know how to deal with it.

So, even before he got better from the bruise on his broken rib, before he even knew what he felt for her, he already knew what gift he would give her. At the time it would be a thank you for all the hours she spent talking to him and trying to overcome the differences between them... Now he just wanted her to be happy.

He felt like he was willing to buy a star, go get the star and wrap it in a ribbon if it was going to make her happy.

And he felt stupid for that... That was how Dick stayed most of the time.

Then, with some contacts and some calls, he managed to find the other books in a very special edition for her. They were first print of _Reason and Sensitivity_ and _Persuasion_, from the 18th century.

Advantages of being rich... _**Fabulously rich**_.

Damian took a deep breath and looked anxiously at the phone clock and stuffed the phone in his pocket again, it had only been 5 minutes since he had last looked, but he was anxious and felt like it was an eternity. He almost fell off his chair when his cell phone vibrated with the message flashing on the screen.

Lucius Fox had Raven's gift in his hand, and the box was already on its way to her home. And after some messages with _"I can't believe I came to San Francisco to deliver a gift to your girlfriend"_ and _"That's not what I imagined when I agreed to help you"_. Damian excused himself from the dining table and ran into the mansion's garden, far enough away that no one overheard them talking.

Not that they were going to talk about anything confidential, but Damian preferred to avoid his brothers' stupid provocations.

On the other side of the country, Raven was talking to her cousins about what the tour in Gotham had been like and that she had met Robin, her younger cousin was kind of obsessed with all this superhero stuff and it was he who had shown her the she this whole thing, years ago.

She just omitted some facts, like that he said he knew her, saying he liked her and the strangest part of all, they had kissed.

After that, nothing was the same for Raven.The moment the boy's lips touched hers, Raven had the feeling that she knew him as if she knew her own hand. He was wearing a hood and he didn't let her turn on the light, but those lips...They reminded her of Damian, the smell of cinnamon and hair gel intoxicated her and Raven felt at home. As if he had been waiting a long time for it and finally, it was achieved. Raven returned the kiss in the same way, her mind filling with images of Damian that she didn't remember having and her heart went around her entire chest, imagining that maybe he had played romeo, that he had said he liked her and with the possibility that she was wanted by someone, loved by someone... She didn't have to be lonely...

And as heavy as an anchor, reality hit her.

First, Robin was someone she didn't know who she was, but who knew who she was from school and had serious creepy tendencies...

It could be any of those kids at school, it could be anyone who laughed when she passed by looking at books, it could even be some boy who intimidated her and made her afraid. And she would probably die without knowing who it was. This boy had entered her room in the middle of the night and kissed her. He had invaded Bruce Wayne's mansion after her. He knew what her room was and that she was there, in that mansion.

Raven felt a chill down her spine just thinking about it, she was alone in the mansion, Alfred had served dinner for her hours before and then, retired to his rooms. Raven was in a remote part of the mansion, alone and a strange and unknown boy was in her room.

She should think better of leaving the bedroom window.

Second, she liked Damian.

She liked his green eyes with golden details, liked the small scar he had on his eyebrow and lip and liked the dimple that formed in the corner of his cheek when he smiled. Raven liked how the accent made the sound of the R get heavier in his mouth when he said her name and how they could just sit together for hours reading in silence. Raven liked how rare but unique his laugh was. She liked the smell of cinnamon, cayenne pepper, expensive cologne and hair gel that he had and how she knew he was around just by feeling those essences invading her and making her legs tremble and she liked how his lips always it reminded her of lemon tea and brown sugar.

Raven believed that she associated these smells with him because he told her he was born in the Middle East, she felt as if he were a set of spices that made her want to travel to his world, to get lost in his world.

And she'd swallowed it all since Tim's party, every time her hands shook or every time her legs were like jellies just for having him around. She had fallen in love with the kind of boy she vowed never to get involved and she swallowed it and pretended to forget that feeling because she didn't want to feel in love with someone like Damian.

She should despise him, not fall in love...

Not feel a magnet pulling her into his arms every time they were together. It was wrong for her and it had to be fought, but her heart acted of its own accord and that meant all those stupid symptoms she felt.

She really liked him too much

Third, she was kissing someone she didn't know who she was and projecting someone she liked. He looked like Damian, but it wasn't him.

It couldn't be...

Damian was always in California with her and he didn't like her like that boy said. And as much as he was mysterious and full of secrets, he couldn't be Robin, there was no such possibility.There was no chance of Damian being Robin, he didn't even know him! He had told her that and she knew he would not lie to her. And she felt bad about kissing someone thinking about another... It just didn't match what she believed in love.

After that, things got weird, the boy disappeared in the dark of Gotham's dawn just as he had appeared, Damian was grumpy going to the gym at 3 am. He was grumpy for a long time and Raven started to wonder what he had done to make him like this, but after they returned to San Francisco and the final exams arrived, Damian was back to being the usual.

But for Raven, it was never the same again. She always knew how to act around people and she never had a problem talking to Damian without showing how shaky her hands were, but that last week before the holiday break, everything was too much for Raven.

She didn't know how to behave around Damian, she was nervous and she couldn't look him in the eye without getting lost in what she was talking about. And she dreamed of him, a lot... And in those dreams, they were different and she was different...

She heard her heart beating fast against her ears and she was almost sure that the sixth sense thing was being influenced by this damn cupid thing. She could almost swear that his eyes were brighter or that he smiled more at her, or that whenever she, without thinking, kissed his cheek, a light pink tone rose up his neck and reached his cheeks.

Raven ignored this idea not many days later, when she woke up panting for dreaming about the night by the pool and what could happen if Roy hadn't shown up. It had been a long time since she dreamed of it, since Tim's party where she woke up in that same state for days and that was now getting out of hand.

She couldn't look at Damian afterwards

Not without imagining what it would be like to hear him purring her name in her ear, his hands taking every inch of her for him as if he owned every inch for him and his mouth against-

_Stop_

Raven took a deep breath trying to control her heartbeat that seemed to struggle to get out of her chest, she suddenly felt hot... Too hot.

She took a deep breath before turning her attention back to the dinner table, her cousin was still waiting for the story to come of how she had met Robin and she had just lost herself in her own thoughts, wondering what Damian would be like in Gotham.

Maybe his brothers were annoying him at the dinner table like they did when she was there, maybe he had found a rich and beautiful socialite to spend Christmas with, or maybe he was just reading in the library the books that Raven always pointed out to him.

\- "So..."

\- "So what?"

\- "Iish..." - Rose grunted laughing - "She was away..."

\- "Rose..." - Raven's head fell to the side - "Please fill your mouth with mashed potatoes, peas and roasted turkey and please keep quiet..."

\- "What happened? Did you find Robin? Have you seen Batman? What happened, Rae!"

\- "Billy, let your cousin eat in peace..."

\- "It's okay, Uncle Jack..." - Raven smiled a thin smile - "Rose just... talks too much... Billy I'm sorry I ended up losing myself in the middle of my thoughts... What did you ask?"

\- "You were telling me how it was to meet Robin..."

\- "Hm..." - Raven grunted - "Yeah... It was... It was too fast I... I didn't see his face and it was dark..."

\- "But why?"

\- "I don't know, Billy... He... He wanted to talk to the Wayne" - _Lie_ \- After that he just went out the window and left... I... I don't know what he wanted with the Wayne... And I don't care either"

\- "Oh... Cool..." - The blond-haired boy laughed, seeming to believe Raven's story. She was starting to feel like a good liar, she was good at making people believe what she wanted people to believe. She made her believe a lie that she wanted to believe.

\- "Do you think the Wayne has anything to do with them?" - Mary-Beth grunted excitedly

\- "I don't know..." - Raven raised her eyebrow - "Damian said he doesn't know any of them and... They are very noisy and messy..."

\- "Don't you think it's weird?" - Rose grimaced - "Did he know where you slept? I mean... Wayne Mansion has what? About 10 rooms?"

\- "Did a strange boy come into your room, Raven? Why didn't you tell us? This is dangerous!"

\- "Rose is exaggerating and making it look like he invaded my room, aunt..." - Raven murmured looking seriously at Rose. If her intention was to screw with Raven's holiday, she was doing well. - "I said, he was looking for one of the Wayne, I don't know which one..." - Raven took a deep breath before typing the message on the phone and sending it to Rose discreetly under the table.

_Shut up_

Rose read the message seconds later and laughed just shrugging

\- "Don't you think it's strange that they were looking for a Wayne?"

_You hit me with the lamp yesterday and it still hurts... Shut up..._

\- "I don't know... Damian said he didn't know who these masked guys are and... He had gone out with his brothers at the time to resolve an issue..."

_You deserved it... If Damian hears you say that I like him I will never have peace in my miserable life..._

\- "So there aren't many options..."

_Someone needs to talk... That kid takes a horse dose of kryptonite if it is going to impress you... You have been living this Cat and Mouse game since we were 15!_

\- "Girls, I know you won't leave this thing anymore... Let's leave the messages for later, okay?"

\- "Okay... I'm sorry Aunt Alice..."

\- "I want to go to Gotham one day..." - Billy mumbled with his mouth full of mashed potatoes

\- "You'll be lucky if we let you go to Los Angeles one day, Billy...."

\- "Raven could go to Gotham alone... Why can't I?"

\- "Raven has a boyfriend in Gotham, Billy..."

\- "I don't have!"

\- "Are you serious, Raerae?" - Rose grunted smiling.

Raven bitterly regretted looking for Rose when she arrived from Gotham at the gym... Rose didn't miss an opportunity to even remind Raven that she was right all along.

\- "I am, Rose Wilson..."

\- "Funny why I'm almost sure you told me that-"

\- "ROSE..."

\- "What?"

\- "Forget it... Bad idea to have called you..."

\- "Awn also love you birdie..."

\- "Girls..."

\- "If Raven can go to Gotham without a boyfriend and alone and met Robin I can go too..." - Billy muttered - "Mary can go with me!"

\- "Raven wasn't alone and is a responsible teenager..." - Alice said putting more mashed potatoes on Raven's plate. Not that she asked and not that she ate. Everything was exactly the same - "And don't think I would have let her go if it weren't for that Wayne car standing here at the door... I'm not going to let you go in that crazy city because of a super hero..." - Alice had the hands on her hips while Billy just rolled his eyes and grunted something unintelligible to everyone at the table. Then Alice turned to Raven again with her eyes shining differently

\- "But mom..."

\- "It's a no, Billy..."

\- "Maybe if you get a rich girlfriend who takes you to a dance in Gotham" - Rose grunted laughing

\- "Rose!"

\- "Okay... I will not say that you are dating the Wayne boy... Although you are a cute couple at school, you know that..." - Rose gave a lip singing smile - "You are cute closed in your care bubble with each other..."

\- "We are friends, Rose... And just that..."

\- "You should ask this friend of yours to come to dinner with us, Rae..." - Alice grunted looking at Raven

\- "Damian?"

\- "Yes..." - She raised an eyebrow - "That's his name, isn't it? That cute Wayne boy you always visit..."

\- "Why would I call Damian to dinner here...? He's unbearable and he always comes back to Gotham when he doesn't have class..."

\- "Well, you just said that he is your friend and you and Rose have been arguing over this boy... And he has been so kind to you since that... Accident... You know, calling you to parties and studying with you... Rose told us about how you became inseparable friends at school... I thought it would be a good way of thanking..." - She shrugged - "And a good way to meet him too... It's not good for a girl to be traveling around with a boy without us meeting him in person..."

\- "They want to find out if you have a boyfriend - Rose mumbled with her mouth full - "This is the attitude of someone who is forcing a meeting of _'parents meets the boyfriend'_..."

\- "You know him personally" - Raven raised an eyebrow - "Not only him but Alfred, Tim..."

\- "We saw them only in that situation, Raven..."

\- "Hm... I don't know..." - Raven wrinkled her nose - "Damian is not very sociable..."

\- "A dinner with his friend's family would certainly not kill him... I bet when that man is not here, he only eats junk..."

\- "Definitely land survey to find out if you have a boyfriend...."

\- "Aunt..." Damian cooks better than I ever tried to cook

\- "Rae... Tie Garfield to a chair and put tofus in front of him and he will still cook better than you"

\- "HAHA..." - Raven laughed wryly - "Very funny..." - Raven rolled her eyes - "For your information, I know how to make lemon tea with brown sugar very well... And I made toast without burning any... And Alfred was willing to teach me other things..."

\- "Of course... He doesn't want his grandson to starve if he marry you..."

\- "ROSE WILSON!" - Raven's eyes were wide

\- "What, little bird?"

\- "Can you, I don't know, shut the fuck up?"

\- "Raven... Language..."

\- "Girls..." - Raven's uncle murmured with his arms up - "Let's all calm down, okay?" - he smiled - "First, Raven you know the swear rule... 10 dollars in the swear jar, young lady..."

\- "Whateve..." - Raven grunted rolling his eyes as he stood up to get the money. She always forgot the name-calling jar... If she had kept all the 10 dollars she put there, she could have gone on a trip somewhere alone away from Rose Wilson.

\- "Yeah, birdie..." - Rose smiled - "It was just a suggestion from your aunt to bring the lovely Damian Thomas Wayne to dinner here... You don't have to be nervous"

\- "I'm not talking to you, Rose..."

\- "But Rose is right, Raven... It was just a suggestion... We don't want you to be the subject of other people's conversations and we want to know who you're being friends with as we know Garfield, Tara, Jaime and Rose..."

\- "He's very busy... And..." - Raven didn't finish saying. Her cell phone screen lit up showing Damian's number and name. Raven felt her heart go round her chest and fall where her stomach should have been.

\- "Speaking of the devil..." - Rose murmured drinking the juice with a smile on her face.

\- "Raven... You know the rule..." - Alice mumbled - "Dinners are sacred and family... No technology or phone calls... Our attention is complete and exclusive to our table and our family..."

\- "Er... I... I know, but... I need to answer, it may be important..."

\- "What could be important on Christmas Eve, Raven?"

\- "I don't know..." - Raven raised an eyebrow - "I'll know as soon as I answer..."

\- "No exceptions, young lady..." - Aunt Alice murmured looking at her making Raven growl sinking into the table. The phone rang until it hung up and then rang again.

In the third time that the phone vibrated on the table, Raven shrugged with everyone looking at her

\- "What? I can't hang up on him... He'll think something happened and you don't know how paranoid Damian can be..."

\- "Honey... You know how teenagers are... She better answer this now instead of we having to see it playing until the end of the night..." - Raven's uncle grunted with his hands on his wife's back, who just snorted defeated

\- "Okay, Raven... Answer that call..." - She grunted rolling her eyes - "But nothing to spend hours hanging on it... I'm just allowing it because there is nothing more annoying than this music repeating at dinner time." - Raven smiled giving an excited shout while picking up the phone on the table

\- "Thanks aunt Alice!" - Raven grunted getting up - "I won't be long, okay...?" - Raven heard the whispers and whispers behind her about the call, she could have hung up and just left it to call later, but she stupidly wanted to talk to him. He was 3 hours away from her and it was probably Christmas for him. She wished she could wish him a happy Christmas as if he were there...

Even though it was still 21:35...

It was stupid, but she was in love... People in love did stupid things, didn't they?

Raven walked quickly to her room and locked the door before sliding the green button on the phone screen to answer the call.

\- "Hello?"

\- _"Raven?"_


	21. Chapter 21

\- _"Raven?"_ \- His voice sounded shaky and hoarse on the other side

\- "Erm... Hi Damian... I haven't gotten used to your new number yet..." - Raven sighed - "What really happened?"

\- _"Hmm... Robbery..."_

\- "Ah... Yes... You told me..."

\- _"Am I interrupting something? I called 3 times and you didn't answer I thought..."_

\- "Hm? No..." - Raven laughed softly - "You're not interrupting anything... I just... I was convincing my aunt to let me pick up the phone... She has a rule about electronics on the dinner table..."

\- _"Alfred has too..."_ \- He smiled on the other side and she found herself melting like ice in the summer - _"I can... Call later if you think better..."_

\- "No..." - Raven bit her lip hard and sat on the bed looking forward - "You don't need to call at another time... I needed to leave a little... You saved me from strangling Rose actually..."

\- _"Ah... I was also about to strangle Todd too..."_ \- Raven heard the gravel noise in the background, he was outside the mansion - _"They are the same, aren't they?"_

\- "Unfortunately yes..." - Raven laughed - "But... Well, this is family, right? And Christmas is for that, for... Family things..."

\- _"I... I'll agree, but because you and Alfred said that..._" - Raven could hear him smiling on the other end of the line, wondering how his perfect white teeth appeared slowly and how a small crease appeared in the corner of his eyes. She let herself imagine it as the silence fell between them until the words left her lips without her noticing

\- "When are you coming back?"

\- _"Hm...? Ahnn... Soon... Probably before the new year party..."_

\- "Erm..." - Raven hugged the pillow - "Right..."

\- _"Why?"_

\- "Why what?"

\- _"Why do you want to know when I get back to San Francisco?"_

\- "Hmm... Nothing... It is nothing important..." - She took a deep breath shaking her head - "Is just because you said you would study those algebra subjects for exam with me..."

\- _"We have weeks until that exam, Raven... You can disconnect from school when you're at home... It's christmas"_

\- "Who am I talking to and what did you do with Damian Wayne?" - Raven heard him laugh on the other side

\- _"It's still me..."_ \- He grunted still laughing - _"But I'm just saying that you don't have to worry about tests and calculations on Christmas night..."_

\- "I don't remember hearing you say that I should abandon my exam worries..."

\- _"Well, I'm saying now..."_

\- "Hm..."

\- _"Ahnn..."_

\- "So... We arranged a day for you to help me with these damn calculations when you return..."

\- _"Fine... Before the new year's eve..."_

\- "This..."

\- _"Right..."_

\- "Yeah... So..."

\- _"Hm... Before I forget... Timothy is planning to have one of those parties again on New Year's Eve..."_ \- Damian looked uncertain - _"He told me to call you... If you want, of course..."_

\- "And you want me to go?"

\- _"I wouldn't mind if you were there... It would be cool to have you there"_

\- "I didn't ask this, Damian..." - Her voice was almost a whisper

\- _"Does it make any difference how I responded?"_

\- "It does..." - Raven raised an eyebrow - "If Tim wants me to go to his party, he should be the one to call me... Not to send you to call me like his message boy..."

\- _"I'm not his message boy!"_ \- Raven felt that she had poked Damian's pride and she knew it was like poking a jaguar...

Not at all advised

But she couldn't help it... Two years of teasing each other for anything made her happy to see his perfect control crack and fall, along with the mask of indifference.

\- "So you are calling me? Or is it Tim who wants me to go?"

\- _"Does it make a difference?"_

\- "I already said it does..."

\- _"So yes..."_

\- "Yes?"

\- _"Yes, Raven... Was that what you wanted to hear? I want you to go... I want you to go to a stupid new year party with me and yes, I'm the one inviting you... It's not Timothy... It's me... Because it would be nice to have at least one damn person hanging around mine neck and talking about things I don't care... And because I liked going to a party with you and I want to go to more parties with you but I can't call you without thinking about it becoming a general fight..."_ \- Raven heard him snort on the other end of the line - _"Satisfied?"_

\- "Hm... For now... Yes... But I still feel like it's not your sincere answer... Are you sure?

\- _"Yes Raven... I'm quite sure... I'm inviting you, I want you..."_ \- He paused - _"At the party... I want you at the party"_

\- "Saw? It didn't hurt to say..."

\- _"Gods, you are so..."_

\- "_**'So'**_ what, Wayne?"

\- _"Annoying, Roth..."_

\- "Look who's saying about being annoying...."

\- _"Whatever... That's not why I called... It's Christmas and I'm not going to be mad at you... It's enough with Todd and my father and Grayson and Drake..."_

\- "Yes, whatever..."

\- _"Hmm... Great..."_ \- He was silent again and then raven heard him take a deep breath on the other end of the line - _"Mari'i is here... She asked about you..."_

\- "Really? Does she remember me?"

\- _"Of course she remembers you... That little goblin apparently likes you more than me..."_

\- "This is not difficult, Damian... I am adorable and you are annoying..."

\- _"What?"_ \- He laughed on the other side - _"You are terrible, Roth..."_

\- "I'm adorable... And you can't deny that!"

\- _"I can't?"_

\- "No..."

\- _"Hm... Okay, you're right... Sometimes you are adorable..."_

\- "Oh goddesses I wish I had recorded this!" - Raven laughed, her heart pounding like thunder inside her chest...

Had he just called her _**"adorable"**_?

\- _"Shut up, Roth ..."_

\- "Oh no... I definitely won't shut up... Did the great Damian Wayne just call the girl he hates since he was 15 adorable? I definitely won't shut up" - Raven bit her lower lip stifling a giggle - "So... Wait a goddamn minute, did you also said you like to stay at a party with me? Do you... Do you like my company?"

\- _"I didn't say that"_

\- "You said"

\- _"No... I didn't say..."_

\- "Damian, I'm not crazy..."

\- _"I didn't say... I just... I don't hate..."_

\- "You said that you like me"

\- _"Whatever!"_

\- "Are you nervous?"

\- _"You have this power..."_

\- "If you say..."

\- _"Can we... Just stop?"_

\- "Fine..."

\- _"So...? You go?"_

\- "I'll answer you when you get back... I have to ask my aunt, ask the boys... I can't answer for them..."

\- _"What?"_ \- He almost shouted from the other side making Raven giggle - _"You know what? It doesn't matter..."_ \- He took a deep breath - _"You played a little game and I fell... Point for you..."_

\- "Are we counting the points? I'm pretty sure not..."

\- _"No..."_ \- Raven was still giggling - _"Anyway... I didn't care about that... I don't even know why I'm talking about it now... I could have waited when I got back... "_

\- "If you're saying..." - Raven shrugged and in the same instant the doorbell rang, followed by Rose shouting Raven's name downstairs - "I'm going!" - Raven shouted, covering the phone with the palm of her hand - "Look, I need to go... For some reason someone came looking for me at night Christmas... So... Merry Christmas, Damian... See you soon..."

\- _"No! Don't turn off..."_

\- "Hm?"

\- _"Don't hang up the phone... I need to hear your voice..."_

\- "What do you mean?"

\- _"I know what's on your door..."_

\- "What?"

\- _"I know what's on your doorstep because I sent it to you... And I need to hear your reaction, so I'll know that I got it right... And ... I made you happy... Because... I-I like..."_ \- He looked like he was forcing himself to say - _"I like you.... You happy... And that's what friends do, right?"_

\- "Yeah, I think so..." - Raven frowned - "And wait, do you like me?"

\- _"No..."_ \- Damian answered quickly - _"I mean... You're a friend and... I don't hate you... Why? Do you want me to say that I like you? Because..."_

\- "No! It's just that you said and I... I thought you said... You know what? Nevermind ... And wait, what do you mean 'I sent it'?"

\- _"Well... I sent this..."_

\- "That's creepy... Did I say that before? You're creepy..." - Raven grunted as she returned to the lighted corridor, passed the noisy table and Rose's amused eyes on her with a smile that Raven was afraid to find out what it meant.

\- _"I know what it is because I sent it..."_

\- "You? You who sent this? What the hell are you talking about, Damian?"

\- _"It's your Christmas present, Raven... It's not a letter with anthrax..."_

\- "Coming from you? I expect anyth"- Raven didn't finish saying.

There was a guy standing at the door with a box in his hands. Raven could see the SUV with the W symbol on the back and she wanted to slam the door in the man's face there.

She needed to remind Damian that she had neighbors and that a Wayne Enterprise car stopping at her door every day wasn't the way she wanted to be seen....

\- "Miss Roth?" - Raven waved without a voice to the man in front of her who awkwardly handed the box to the girl, wished her a happy Christmas and then turned on her back and went back to the SUV as if she had left a bomb in her hands.

Raven was left to get in the car, start, turn around and disappear into the street that was beginning to get small snowflakes on the floor and then looked at the box in her hands, it was heavy and blue, with a white ribbon bow on top.

\- "Damian what the hell is this? Ops... Goddamn It!"

\- _"Your Christmas present... I already said..."_

\- "But I can't accept..."

\- _"How can you not accept something you haven't seen yet?"_

\- "I'm sure it's something I can't accept"

\- _"Too late... I can't return it to the collector..."_

\- "Collector????"

\- _"Open... Stop grumbling and questioning and open the damn gift"_

\- "Fuck..." - Raven grunted and then looked at the eyes turned to her - "Okay, I know... Swear jar... I understand..."

\- _"Swear jar?"_

\- "Long story..." - She murmured into the phone, pulling the tape carelessly while balancing the device on her shoulder. The lid of the box with a loud "pop" on the floor while she was still struggling to pull the blue from above. Raven dropped the phone to the floor when she saw the contents. Two very old books in there, with beaten spines and the smell of old things.

\- "Did that kid give you a lot of old paper?"

\- "This..." - Raven couldn't say - "This is..." - Raven shook her head and bent down to pick up the phone on the floor... - "You ... Are you crazy?"

\- _"Merry Christmas, Raven..."_

\- "This is... It's a fortune..."

\- _"It is impolite to question gift values..."_

\- "When the gift costs 50 dollars... Not when one of them was auctioned for 58 thousand euros!"

\- _"And...?"_

\- "I can't accept..."

\- _"You accepted the other that was equivalent... You have a complete collection now..."_

\- "I didn't buy anything for you! And I'm definitely not going to buy something like that... Oh my god..."

\- _"I'm not asking for that..."_

\- "Are you telling me that this little shit gave you a gift of 58,000 bucks?" - Rose had her mouth open behind her - "I definitely want him to be my boyfriend..."

\- "Damian... I can't accept this... This is... This is too much! It's a fortune"

\- _"You not can accept, but you must accept... It's a Christmas gift..."_

\- "Two extremely expensive books..."

\- _"That were being auctioned in London... They would probably stop at some idiot's bookstore and fill it with dust... But you like it, so..."_

\- "Damian... This... This is so..." - Raven slid her shaking finger over the cover - "I will never be able to compensate..."

\- _"And I don't want you to think about it..."_

\- "I... I can't..."

\- _"Raven... You need to accept..."_ \- He took a deep breath on the other side - _"Just... Just tell me you liked..."_

\- "You are kidding? Of course I liked it, Damian..." But... Oh god... That's... Too expensive for a Christmas gift..."

\- _"It was nothing..."_

\- "You say that because you're a goddamn millionaire..."

\- _"Exactly..."_ \- She could see him shrugging - _"Just... Tell me if you were happy... And for me it's enough..."_

\- "For God's sake, Raven... Just say that you agree to climb on his dick like a tree and accept the gift because if you don't accept it, I accept..."

\- _"What?"_

\- "Nothing Damian.... It's just Rose talking too much..." - Raven grunted, throwing the lid of the box towards Rose, who managed to dodge laughing.

\- _"So, did you like? You're happy?"_

\- "I-I... Of course I liked it and of course I'm more than happy, Damian... Thank you so much..." - She took a deep breath

\- _"So I am satisfied... I know you will take good care and... This would end up in the mansion's library anyway..."_ \- Raven couldn't stop smiling looking at the contents of the box. That was crazy, two rare books that she had seen the news that were being auctioned for 58 thousand euros...

And they were in her hands.

Damian had given it to her as a Christmas present as if it were a Disneyland keychain... She knew her pride kept her from accepting it, but Damian wouldn't take it back and... She was happy.

She could accept it this time.

After 2 years of intense discussions in the classroom, that was the offer of physical peace between them. Raven's heart turned around at the thought of what he said, that he was satisfied that she was happy... Could he feel the same way she did? Raven wanted to push that flea of doubt to the bottom again, but it was already too big in her head and she felt that she couldn't help but feed the great hopeful monster within her.She was an idiot ...

\- _"Merry Christmas, Raven..."_ \- His voice came again from the other side, soft as the morning breeze, sweet as honey, hot as lava from a volcano that opened in her chest every time she heard his voice.

Damian did this to her, these cliché and annoying things.

She must be used to it.

Raven and Damian stayed on the phone a little longer, even when her aunt ordered her to get off the phone and go to dinner and she had no choice but to say more to him. She didn't want to hang up, she wanted to spend the rest of the night talking to Damian about stupid gifts, about how she was looking ridiculous in a green sweater with an embroidered reindeer and she wanted to tell him everything she felt.

She didn't want to hang up...

She wanted to hear him tell about his Christmas experiences, wanted to hear about what he had gotten for Christmas or what Jason was up to. She wanted things that she didn't even know she could want before... But she needed to hang up. It was the third time that Aunt Alice appeared on the bedroom doorway with her hands on her hips ordering her to get off the phone.

Raven was never the naughty type, once said, it was enough for her to understand the command. But with Damian she wanted to be... She just wanted to close the door on her aunt's face and keep hearing him get nervous on the other side.

Or confess all her feelings to him that night. It seemed like a good time.

Raven knew this was the game she always wanted to avoid, Damian was a problem and now she was attracted to the problem. She wanted to be irresponsible and disobedient. Just as she had avoided being since she was 8 years old, when Angela turned her back and left never to return.

There was that voice in the back of her mind wanting this, urging her to be exactly what she had promised to be and Raven decided to silence. After the noise of the holidays, she would take time to meditate under some tree before classes returned.

She had learned from a young age that meditating always helped to silence anything inside her, that was one of the few things that Angela had taught her.

When did she fight with Damian at school? She meditated

When did she fight with Damian in the middle of the hall over a stupid party? You can be sure that she meditated

When did Garfield take her peace with any joke? She meditated

When was she just nervous about some evidence? She meditated

After the whole Hunter thing at the fair? Raven found herself meditating more often than she ever did.

Meditating helped her to calm that thing that seemed to have woken her up after that night, things she didn't remember were there before, monsters she thought she had locked under her bed as a child.

And these monsters whispered to her, they wanted to get out of there, they wanted to devour the world, they wanted her...

Meditating shut them up.

Raven took a deep breath and shook her head, Damian was on the other end of the line and her aunt was standing at the door demanding that she obey and get off the phone. She wanted to be a teenager at least once in her goddamn life, but she just swallowed it and decided not to contest. She wanted to sleep listening to Damian's voice, but she just had to say goodbye and hang up...

And save that conversation for another day, maybe never...

Sometimes she felt ridiculous for being one more to sigh for the most famous and richest boy in school. Before they were like dogs and cats, before they were friends, Damian carried a big name. He was a Wayne, he could have any girl in the world and he should have any girl in the world.

Not her... She was just another girl from a middle class family in a school full of rich girls. She was nobody... Before she didn't care about that, she liked to be nobody, but now... Now it was like everything had been turned upside down and Damian was the cause.

This was wrong and she was more than happy to be wrong.

She felt like she was getting a taste for the mistake and it was Damian's fault. He was a delightful invitation to the problem that she was always eager to accept. She couldn't say no and she remembered and remembered every night in her room what it was like to just go with him. The wind blowing in her face, the heat of Damian's body against hers, Gotham lit below them as Raven mentally prayed not to fall, holding Damian with all her legs and arms. It was the first time she felt truly free...

And freedom tasted like cinnamon and expensive cologne.

Raven shook her head, she was away again

It was easy to get carried away by the memories when it came to Damian

Raven kept the box of books in a special place in her small, but crammed with other yellowed-page books, bookcase. She would look on the internet afterwards for a better way to keep those edits, now, she needed to go back to the dinner table before her aunt would punish her for the rest of the holiday.

Rose took every second to remind Raven that Damian had actually given her a thousand dollar gift and to add some sexual connotation to it. She felt that Rose would never let this go and was sure that Rose would make her regret every second for calling Rose to spend Christmas with her.

Rose barely let her spend a lively night without remembering it every second.

Rose barely let her spend the next day without reminding Raven every minute that Damian was like underage sugar daddy. In a moment, Raven didn't see when 3 pillows hit Rose in the face.

3 days later and Rose was still keen to remind Raven how much that damn gift had cost. To tell the truth, Raven reminded herself every time she looked at the blue box in the middle of her crammed books. She needed to buy something for him, but what to give to a person who has everything?

\- "I still don't know what I can give him as a gift..." - Raven grunted against the counter - "Why does he have to be like that?"

\- "Your pussy..." - Rose muttered unpretentiously rolling her eyes 

\- "What?"

\- "Your pussy... Give him a night of sex..." - Rose raised an eyebrow - "I mean, he clearly wants to eat you all and I think he doesn't have much contact with many pussies out there... Despite who he is..."

\- "I'll pretend I didn't hear it for the sake of my mental health, Rose..."

\- "Don't be innocent, Raven..." - Rose mumbled with her mouth full of ice cream. It was dawn, days after Christmas and she was still there.

To tell the truth, Rose spent more time there than in her own home and Raven didn't even judge. With her father, Raven wouldn't spend much time at home either if she were Rose.

\- "What do you mean by that?"

\- "I'm saying exactly what you understand" - Rose crossed her arms - "Don't play innocent... You want him and okay, you're all stupid sighing in the corners and in love with him, but... You know he doesn't just shake your mind and heart... There is a waterfall in the middle of your legs when he speaks..." - Raven swallowed - "You want to have sex with him and that's normal..."

\- "I-I don't want this..."

\- "Raven, please..." - Rose rolled her eyes - "Every single girl and even some boys from that school want to have sex with him... Even I do, if I stop to think about him without that unbearable shell... Seriously, he emanates big dick energy... This is normal... Besides, he is hot despite the regrets..."

\- "I don't want to talk about that..."

\- "What do you want to talk about then? Because honestly, Raven... I don't mind talking about our sex lives... Or the lack of it..."

\- "Because I don't want to, Rose..." - Raven snorted - "I... I don't even know if I'll ever be able to have this... I... I still remember... That..."

\- "Oh..."

\- "Exactly... Oh..." - Raven took a deep breath, feeling a shiver run down her spine.

Raven still remembered the worst night of his life.

She still remembered everything. How her clothes were torn. Hands passing her without her allowing it, how she felt dirty and disgusting and how she hated herself after that. She hated every inch of her. Raven still remembered how she got hurt in the bath because even after washing it countless times, she still felt dirty. She still felt Hunter's hands, mouth and tongue on her body.

And she hated that sensation enough to scratch the skin while rubbing the bath sponge on her body.

Raven shuddered, remembering again everything that had happened.

Every sensation.  
Every fear.

She remembered how her anger exploded when she saw Damian hurt and how she felt it bubble up inside her like a boiling pot of water, ready to explode. She remembered perfectly how she wanted to hurt Hunter and Brandon and she still found herself trying to think of how that iron rod stopped in her hand just in time to hit Brandon with a force she didn't know she had.

She still woke up in the middle of the night with nightmares, to the sound of something popping and breaking inside her and she remembered perfectly how she was still afraid.

Fear of being attacked again, fear that the next time she won't be able to save herself. Fear that something worse would happen, fear of hearing those voices whisper to her again, asking her to kill.

\- "You are still afraid?"

\- "Every goddamn time... I have this... This fear..." - Raven took a deep breath - "Fear of never being a normal girl again, fear of happening again, fear of not having you or someone around, fear of every male look on me... Fear even from Damian or Garfield..." - Raven looked at her own hands defeated - "Something broke inside me and... I don't think I'll ever be able to mend again..."

And so Raven still wondered if she would ever be able to put that fear aside and give herself to someone. Damian made her feel good and she wanted to feel his hands on her but, there was still fear living in the back of her mind. A fear that could be irrational, but that was part of it.

\- "Forget it... It's just... Bullshit" - Raven muttered, shaking her head - "Just... I don't want to talk about something that doesn't make me comfortable..."

\- "Ah..." - Rose ran to Raven pulling her into a brotherly hug, placing Raven in her arms - "I'm sorry, birdie... I didn't know it was that... I thought it was just an embarrassment because you're virgin and that's fun to piss off... And wait... Oh why the hell didn't you tell me that before?"

\- "I don't know... It's bullshit..."

\- "It's not bullshit... It's how you feel..." - Rose rolled her eyes and held Raven's face in both hands - "Look, I'll try to try, okay? Avoid making sexual comments between you and your hot boyfriend..."

\- "He's not my boyfriend, Rose..."

\- "You didn't deny that he's hot..."

\- "Shut up..." - Raven grunted smiling, rolling her eyes while Rose gave a loud laugh, releasing the dark-haired girl.

Rose would never change and Raven knew that, she would always say something that would make Raven roll her eyes or tell her to shut up and that would always be for sure with Damian or anyone else Raven was attracted to. It was part of what Rose liked to do most: Annoy and upset Raven until she couldn't say anything other than to tell Rose to shut up.

But Raven started to reveal a lot of what Rose said, she knew it wasn't the evil of her _silver-haired fake sister'_ Rose was like that, she always was and Raven knew that if she ever asked, Rose would be there for anything. Siblings were for that, right? To get you out of your mind and make you ashamed as many times as possible, but still be on your side always.

Raven couldn't get too angry with Rose, after they were almost officially sisters, Raven got used to it. Rose was the sister she would never have... It was fun sometimes, mostly irritating... Just like Damian's brothers.

Rose left early the other day, something she was supposed to work out at home with Joey and her father that she didn't want to tell Raven ... Raven knew this was recurring, Joey always had trouble dealing with Mr. Wilson. Being a sensitive boy like Joey, Raven was not surprised that they always hit each other head-on.

When Raven woke up, Rose was already gone and she was alone now full of things to think about. Raven had breakfast and threw himself into his room for the rest of the morning, ignoring the noisy day that was his home because of his cousins running around.

Raven lay on the bed, looking at the ceiling of her own room thinking about everything and nothing at the same time. The conversation with Rose the night before made her think of Damian and how close she felt to him. He was different and although she was still scared and had that voice saying in the back of her mind that she should run when he was around, Raven felt like a normal girl around him. She liked him and that she already knew, but she liked to the point of being able to ignore all fears and really give herself to him?

Raven bit her lip, she really found herself thinking about how she wanted to feel his arms around her, taking everything she had as if it were his and made only for him. Raven found herself dreaming about it and waking up scared and sweaty in the middle of the night

She knew that the abuse she suffered had broken her inside in an perhaps irreparable way, but Damian was someone who gave her something to think about... Especially after what had happened in the library and after what had happened in the Queen's pool.

Raven grunted nervously to herself and decided to stop thinking too much, that wouldn't get her anywhere and would only make her nervous and with a headache. Why was she wondering if she could have sex with someone when she didn't even have someone?

It was bullshit and she didn't need to think about it, not even on Damian's lips against hers, nor how his hands fit perfectly around her waist, the space between her ribs and her hips, as if they were made to fit.

Raven didn't want to think about it.Thinking about it meant having all these confused and brooding feelings inside her, and she didn't want to die from thinking so much.

It was a migraine that she would avoid whenever possible.

Raven sat on the bed looking at the phone, there was only a single message from Damian saying he would be back the next day that Raven stupidly replied so quickly that it scared even herself.She was behaving like an idiotic and passionate girl and she couldn't help it... She was liking Damian and she hated to assume it for herself every time she acted that stupidly that way.

Raven needed to get out of that room.

The walls would suffocate her and the questions would end up engulfing her like a tide of doubts and "what if". Raven quickly slid his finger across the screen, quickly sending a message to the least likely person on his short contact list: Tara Markov.

Raven still felt that Tara was the person she had the least intimacy with or any contact with in her small group of friends. The blonde girl was rarely really close to Raven despite them sharing the same dorm at school, and when they were close to each other, the conversation was short or almost non-existent.

Except for the time that Raven was in doubt about what she felt when she kissed Damian... The girl swore to keep the conversation between the two in secret, and even then, kept her promise. Raven felt that part of Tara's lack of contact with the rest of the group was due to the factor: Garfield Logan.

Garfield was crazy about her, he never hid it and he always made a point of trying to break through the girl's heart. But Garfield was also a top womanizer and Raven had already lost count of how many times the green-haired boy tried something with herself without success...

Or with Rose, who happily gave in to the boy's whims.

If Tara asked, Garfield would look for an entire constellation for her but, the girl was difficult so, Garfield was content with other girls, other loves. But they had one thing, they always went out together, always slept together...

They were just too silly to take on their feelings. 

Raven laughed at the thought... She was too silly for not assuming her feelings too...

The difference was that she was talking about Damian Wayne, the boy she swore to hate and who had a crazy fan club behind him... And that I had no reason to look at Raven with any eyes other than "not so friendly, but close enough that I don't hate you that much"

Tara responded almost instantly, agreeing to go for a walk with Raven through the mall. Raven still wanted to find a gift for Damian and maybe, someone without Rose's "sexual" vision, would help her think of something decent for her new best friend. She couldn't think of anything equivalent after he gift her with those books that cost almost a house...

Raven got up quickly, changed clothes and took the savings she had been saving for some time for emergencies and with a quick warning to her aunt that she was going to "shopping with a friend" she left her mental prison leaving the air year-end cold hitting her face.

The icy shock of the cold on her cheeks helped her mind clear and she to think more clearly about the various subjects that crossed her mind. She didn't need to feel pressured to think about sex, she didn't even have someone to think about it yet

Damian was still a problem she wanted to avoid, but now she liked him more than she wanted to admit and liked to think about him and she always melted when he spoke... Did he need to know that? Raven couldn't say yet, but she could survive for a while longer... He didn't seem very interested in romance anytime soon

She just needed to think of something that maybe Damian would like... He had everything, he could have everything... But he was still surprised when she shared a lunch with him after a weekend at home...

Hunter was far away, on another continent... She didn't have to worry about him... Never again...

Those voices, were just her unconscious making her freak out... Hearing voices was never a good sign and she just needed a little peace and quiet so that everything would be calm and silent as it always was...

Angela loved her and so left her with her aunt Alice... Raven knew that if she had stayed with her mother she might not have everything she had today. Angela's abandonment was an act of love that Raven would have been hard pressed to accept, but she could understand... She knew it must be difficult for her mother to look at her after what happened...

She just couldn't remember why her mother once realized that she couldn't be with her anymore, no matter how hard Raven tried, her memories before that fateful afternoon where she met her aunt disappeared and all she remembered was fragments of memory shrouded in a haze that she didn't know if it was real or if they were made to lessen the pain of abandonment.

Raven took a deep breath, calming her mind. She didn't need to think again... She didn't need to freak out again. Tara was sitting in a coffee shop, a cup of espresso in front of her as she slid her finger across the phone screen without much of a desire to pay attention to the outside world. She was wrapped in an earthy-colored sweatshirt and her short blond hair curved around the red wool den. Tara's freckles looked more prominent with the cold around her and her blue eyes looked bigger.

Her eyes always brought a mystery that Raven wanted very much to unravel... Tara looked good, but she was as mysterious and closed as Damian could be about her past. The girl looked at Raven approaching with a raised eyebrow, before sipping some coffee, looking curious that Raven was asking her for a walk in the mall.

\- "I will not lie, you surprised me this time..."

\- "Hm... Hi!" - Raven grunted pulling the chair facing Tara

\- "I ordered some tea for you... You're not a big fan of caffeine, right?"

\- "Thank you..." - Raven smiled friendly at Tara as she threw herself on the chair - "Caffeine makes me anxious... I can't sleep..."

\- "I believe that there are many more things that are not making you sleep..."

\- "Hm... Maybe?" - Raven sipped some tea. Chamomile, the way she liked it - "I have a lot on my mind..."

\- "That explains a lot that you asked me to go for a walk in the mall, of all people..."

\- "Well... Glad you could come... Why was that a surprise for you?"

\- "Do you want to go out for a girl's day alone with me? Just me? That was at least... surprising..."

\- "Why?" - Raven grunted rubbing his hands - "We are roommates, I don't see why not ask you out..."

\- "You don't open up to me that much, do you, Raven?"

\- "You are not an open book either, Tara..." - Raven's head tilted to the side, looking at the girl for a long time while trying to understand if the blonde girl was trying to start a drama or if she was just one of thousands of Raven's paranoias

\- "I know..." - Tara shrugged nonchalantly - "But I didn't expect you to want my company for a day of shopping in the mall... To tell you the truth, I didn't think you were like that... You're much closer Rose, Gar and Damian... It is a surprise that you have chosen me from all the people you are closest to..."

\- "I... I needed help to buy a gift and I don't see why you can't help me with this... Besides, this can be a good opportunity for us to get closer... Like roommates, I don't see why we're not close friends..."

\- "And Rose?"

\- "Rose Wilson would definitely not help me with this... Seriously, I tried..." - Raven raised her eyebrows, making a soft laugh come out of Tara's lips - "With each advice, there were at least 3 sexual connotations..."

\- "That's quite a Rose Wilson way of being..."

\- "Yes... It is quite annoying..." - Raven grimaced - "Do you believe she was saying these things with my aunt at the dinner table? She said loud and clear that I should assume at once that I wanted to... Oh god this is embarrassing to say... That I should assume at once that I wanted to climb on Damian's cock... My aunt it was practically on the side... I will be watched closely now because of that..."

\- "Oh... Rose Wilson being Rose Wilson..."

\- "Exactly..." - They laughed together, Raven feeling the tension leave her body as she let her hands rest in the hot cup of tea in front of her.

\- "So..." - Tara - "Will you explain what you need my help for or...?"

\- "Damian..." - Raven muttered restlessly in the chair.

It was still very strange to say that she liked him without feeling that things were going wrong from her mouth... She had gotten so used to hating him for so long that now, everything seemed out of place.

\- "Hm... I should have predicted..."

\- "I..." - Raven took a deep breath and put her hands on her face - "I think I like him... Really... And... He gave me a Christmas gift that... oh gods, it's just the best gift he could have given me and... It was extremely expensive..... I-I need to buy him a present and I don't know what I can give to a boy who can have anything he wants in the palm of his hand..."

\- "Did you finally admit that you like him?"

\- "It's still difficult to accept that... But I think so..."

\- "Oh..." - Tara slowly nodded, a smile of relief taking her face as small dimples formed in her cheek - "So was that conversation in the dorm about him? About feeling hot? Was it about Damian all the time?"

\- "Do you still remember that?"

\- "Of course I remember, Raven..." - Tara rolled her eyes

\- "Hm..." - Raven licked her lower lip, uncertain.

That conversation had taken place right after Damian kissed her in the library. Raven was scared and looking for answers because, everything had happened too quickly. In one moment, she was irritated with Damian for no apparent reason, in another moment he had a hand under her shirt, a soft moan coming from her lips as Damian's lips descended further and further down her neck and she was ready to just let go.

And then, everything went wrong when Hunter appeared...

And Raven ran away without looking back...

After that, a string of misinterpretations and lies made everything go wrong... And Raven's life was never the same, especially after the fair.

\- "No need to answer... You guys made out again, didn't you? In the library... You made out in the library and because of that, you came in to the room looking like you were bewildered and asking about lust and getting wet because of a hotter kiss... Right? You guys made out in the library and you got scared to be horny for the way he was touching you"

\- "This... This happened so fast and when I saw it, I was already in his arms..." - Raven took a deep breath and put her hands on her face - "I don't know what happens to me, when he is close I just... I disconnect.... And I disconnect completely and just want... I just want him and his lips and his arms..."

\- "You like him... It's normal..." - Tara rolled her eyes - "Everyone knew you would have something sooner or later... There was a lot of sexual tension between you two..."

\- "But we have nothing... Okay?" - Raven hurried to say - "He doesn't even know that I feel these things for him... And I don't think it's still time to say... I... I just want to return a Christmas gift that he gave me and that's just it..."

\- "Okay... If you're saying..." - Tara shrugged - "But honestly, can I give you some advice?"

\- "I... I think so..."

\- "Raven... You should open up at once... He clearly likes you too... He endures Garfield's jokes and provocations to be by your side for lunch and he broke a rib to defend you even if you despise him every day... And honestly, everyone notices how he doesn't take his eyes off you in the classroom..."

\- "I will not fall into this game of illusion... Damian can have the girl he wants, why would he care about me?"

\- "Romance doesn't work like that... He can have the girl he wants, but if he likes you it won't mean anything... Feelings don't look at the bank account, Raven ...

\- "But I don't know what to do... But I don't know what I'm supposed to do... I shouldn't like him... I should keep keeping my distance and hating him for being that spoiled and stupid kid... But the more I try, the more I sink in these stupid feelings... It's like quicksand"

\- "It's a dicksand..."

\- "What?"

\- "A quicksand, but with a penis.... You get sucked into his world and his dick and you can't get out"

\- "Oh god... You sometimes sound like Rose..."

\- "I know..." - Tara laughed - "But whatever..."

\- "Sounding like Rose is not a compliment... Believe me..."

\- "I know that too..." - Tara rolled her eyes bored - "But anyway, do you want some sincere advice? Tell him"

\- "What?"

\- "Run up to him, shout to the city, write a letter ... I don't know... But you should just tell him that you like him like you told me... You should tell him... Or, let him go and let all this go... You kiss him and then dismiss him, his head must be as upside down as yours is..."

\- "Why are you telling me this?"

\- "Because you wanted a sincere conversation..."

\- "Hm... I don't think so..." - Raven raised her eyebrow

\- "So you're a coward..." - Tara shrugged - "Or deep down, you like to have someone on your feet, looking at you like a wet puppy..."

\- "What???" - Raven's mouth was open in the shape of an O, too shocked to formulate an answer. 

_What did that blonde bitch think she was saying?_

\- "Are you a coward, Raven?"

\- "No! I'm not... And... I don't know why we're here talking about it!" 

\- "You who started to say..."

\- "Hmm..." - Raven took a deep breath once, twice, three times... Tara remained calm, the glass dancing on her thin fingers. Within seconds, Raven felt the tension build and solidify between them in a deadly silence until Raven managed to find her voice again - "But... Since we're here, can I be honest too? What you said sounds a little hypocritical, coming from you... Garfield loves you and you clearly like him... There's no point in denying it, even though I say I don't want anything to do with him a million times, you just feel relieved when I said I liked someone... If I should open up about my feelings to Damian, you should do the same to Garfield... He's irritating, but he doesn't deserve to be cooked in a water bath by someone who can't be be honest with him..." - Raven grunted deeply, clasping her hand around the tea cup. She could see the tension rising in the room and Tara's eyes on her didn't help...

She knew that she had touched on a sensitive subject and that things got out of hand... She just couldn't keep her mouth shut when someone pointed out her mistakes, it was that damn pride she had that never let her go out as a loser in a discussion... She knew she had said too much, but now there was no going back...

The words were gone and now, she had a death glare in her direction.

\- "I'm sorry..." - Raven grunted after a long silent period - "This... This is none of my business and... I shouldn't charge you anything... I just... I end up talking too much when they point out my mistakes..." - Raven took a deep breath - "It's a stupid defense mechanism..."

She waited for several reactions... Tara didn't handle this type of confrontation very well and Raven already expected that cup of coffee to fly towards her... But Tara just took a deep breath and drank the coffee.

\- "Fair..." - Tara muttered under her breath

\- "What?"

\- "I said some things in your face, you hit them in mine... Fair..."

\- "Oh... I'm... I'm sorry... I didn't want to say that..."

\- "You wanted it, Raven ... And it's okay, I... I know that you should think exactly like that about me... " - Tara murmured still looking with those stormy eyes at Raven, who felt herself huddled in the chair - "I know that what I said sounded hypocritical, given my relationship with Garfield..."

\- "I... I didn't really mean to call you a hypocrite..."

\- "You wanted... And you did..." - Tara crossed her arms - "And maybe you're right... Maybe it's a little hypocritical that I'm telling you to not hide your feelings when maybe I do that... But it doesn't mean that I'm wrong..."

\- "Hm... That... It was said without thinking, Tara..."

\- "You know I'm right... It's not because I do this, it doesn't mean you have to do it too... Relationships are complicated for me..."

\- "For me too..." - Raven took a deep breath putting her hand on her face - "Relationships are complicated for me... Any level of relationship, I think..."

\- "And when are they not complicated? Even more so with those boys..."

\- "Oh... Yes... Even more with Damian..."

\- "It can't be that hard..."

\- "He is..." - Raven laughed rolling her eyes, it was easy to talk to Tara when she decided to open up... which wasn't always - "He is a pain in the ass most of the time!"

\- "Try competing for Gar's attention with a video game..." - Tara grunted between laughter.

\- "Ah... Boys..." - Raven grunted laughing, rolling his eyes as he drank the rest of the tea, watching Tara shiver while he laughed... It was so easy to just talk to Tara, Raven wanted to do it more often. Rose was her best friend, but sometimes, Raven wanted to have a silly conversation about how silly boys were instead of talking about anything that involved name cursed words or sexual positions...

Sometimes it was good to feel just like a silly and passionate teenager... Raven and Tara decided to walk the mall shortly afterwards, the conversation flowing easily while they both had stories to tell about their lives and their respective passions, while Raven tried to find something that Damian might like...

In the end, Raven ended up stopping at an old record store and vintage video games. She knew that Damian liked a cheese-based video game and she knew that he probably had all kinds of versions of that game, but something made her buy a portable gameboy version and an old cartridge, and a Green Day disc for him.

Damian didn't seem to hear many songs, Raven still remembered the shock in which she was told that he didn't know some of the bands she loved. After that, Raven took a secret oath that she would get to know each of her numerous favorite bands and put together a list for him... And she remembered how he spent two whole weeks listening to American Idiot in each of the hours he she was close...

At the end of the second week, she sometimes heard him mumble a song or two on the way to class or during breaks.

He always denied that he was singing softly when she asked and always got red cheeks and ears, trying to say it was just a nice song.She didn't understand why he just didn't like to assume that he was good and that he did... Raven didn't understand much when it came to Damian, to be honest. Raven returned home when the sun was setting on the cold San Francisco horizon, letting a reddish sunset wash over the grayish blue that has been above their heads all day. Temperatures were close to 7 degrees and Raven's coat was no longer enough to keep her from shivering.

Raven went over the conversation with Tara that night, it was a productive afternoon and Raven could see the bonds of friendship between them further intertwine, even though Tara still seemed afraid of it. Tara had advised Raven to open up to Damian several times during that afternoon and Raven knew that she was right, she just didn't feel ready for it at that moment.

She was afraid of rejection... What could Damian want to see in her?

But Raven was happy to be able to advise Tara and convince her to do the same... Tara would try to open up with Garfield... That if the green-haired boy let go of the damn video game controller along with Jaime in that holiday before classes returned.

Raven rolled over in bed for the thousandth time that night, her mind too restless to sleep. In the end, the walk around the mall gave her more to think about than she had before, and now, she was unable to silence that wave of worries and "what ifs" that flooded her. Her imagination was running wild, creating different situations that would not let her sleep and made her feel anxious.

She looked at the phone again, the thousandth time that day, the message from Damian saying he would be back the next day. She had responded as quickly as she could, seconds after the notification flashed on the phone screen, with a silly smile playing on her lips without her noticing, and with her heart beating fast in her chest.

She was just like that, smiling at the phone screen and her heart beating fast in her chest when the message box showed that he was on line. Raven rolled her eyes trying to regain her pride, feeling stupid enough to throw the phone under her pillow again and forcing herself to sleep. She shouldn't be thinking about ways to call him over for a chat and she definitely shouldn't be staying up at night smiling at the cell phone screen. She must have had a little pride inside herself... This love thing was infecting her and she hated being that intense...

But sometimes, she let herself be deceived by those feelings...

Sometimes, Raven felt like Damian was flirting with her. He always held her hand and never complained about the times she kissed his cheek. He always threatened to kill anyone who tried to have any kind of affection act with him, but Raven could spend the day hanging on his shoulders that he didn't say anything... And Raven knew his looks, she felt it in her bones and sometimes, she noticed how he tried to hide it when she looked back... And there were those kisses that they shared, the tension that they always put themselves and how he said that he would die if he didn't kiss her in the kitchen that weekend...

Raven took two deep breaths, trying to silence the thunder sound in her chest as she reached the terrible conclusion she had been trying to avoid. She was never a coward, but assuming she liked someone was a huge step, declaring herself to that person was something she never tried to do. Damian was the first boy she liked that way and she felt like she was walking into a dark room without knowing what to expect inside. And she was scared, even though her heart said she should take a chance...

Maybe, just maybe, Tara was right, Rose was right...

She needed to tell Damian what she felt, she wouldn't be able to hold it in her chest or swallow it without telling him... Her heart had already made several different scenarios where he smiled Raven's favorite smile and pulled her into a kiss that would leave you in the clouds.

Raven almost fell off the bed when the phone vibrated under his pillow. She couldn't get the silly smile off her lips when she unlocked the screen just to see a single message that made her whole being disassemble and reassemble.

Her heart almost wanted to come out of her mouth and explode in the same way that the Christmas lights hanging from her bedroom window exploded mysteriously the instant she read the message.

_"See you tomorrow, Raven... I can't wait to see you again and comment on the book you indicated... Good night"_

Tara was really right, she needed to tell Damian what she felt or she wouldn't be able to live in peace anymore... She would spontaneously combust if she had to spend another whole year just watching him from a distance, just imagining possible futures for them if she was brave and said everything she felt for him... She needed to let the heart win or cut the evil at the root once and for all...

It would be like removing a bandage: _painful_, but necessary.

\- "Oh gods... My heart is dumb"


	22. Chapter 22

Damian took a deep breath watching the sun rise from his bedroom window. He hadn't woken up for more than 2 hours, but he just couldn't get out of bed, thinking about the last time he spoke to Raven on the phone.

She looked different, looked anxious for something, as if she wanted to say something that was stuck in her throat. And that was exactly what made him afraid. He was waiting for her to show up the day before, he had arrived from Gotham right after lunch and hoped he could see her pretty face after weeks, he felt like he was forgetting how blue her eyes could look and he didn't like it...

Dick had said it was longing, but Damian didn't know that longing could be painful like that...

But Raven and her beautiful blue eyes didn't appear... She sent a weird message at the end of the day saying that she had things to work out and that she was going the next day to talk to him. Damian went over that message mentally 200 times, trying to avoid thinking the worst case...

But they were there, lurking... His crazy paranoia.

Damian couldn't help thinking that she was going to tell him what he feared: that she liked someone and that that someone was not him. He was going to have to hear her say the name of the damn guy she probably liked, he would have to swallow that bitter taste that insisted on taking care of his mouth every time he thought how everything had gone wrong. Having to hear her voice melt like honey talking about someone who would never be him.

He snorted irritably, what was he thinking? He wasn't like that...He's spending a lot of time with Grayson, he's thinking how he... If his mother and grandfather walked him over now, looking like a passionate idiot and a slave to feelings like his father was, they were ashamed of him... And he doesn't even imagine the kind of punishment he would get for just thinking about feeling something.

Damian grunted and sat on the bed looking across the room, tired of looking at those walls, at the unpacked suitcases in the corner of the room, at the shy winter sunlight rising in San Francisco, its fine golden lines clearing the horizon. From his makeshift room, he could see almost the entire city in the distance, its buildings and the Golden Gates connecting the city's active life to Sausalito, the metropolitan area of San Francisco... Damian liked to walk in Sausalito from time to time, it was a picturesque city and charming in its way... And the sound of the water hitting the docks reminded him of Raven's ocean eyes...

And it reminded him of home...

Not his home in Gotham, his other home...

The house where he grew up, on the other side of the ocean, on a more arid continent than what he saw here. He didn't want to feel it, but sometimes a strange feeling hit his chest and he found himself thinking about the smells of Nanda Parbat, the colors, the sounds and tastes of his homeland, far away, in the Middle East.

Damian didn't have a childhood like other children, the marks he carried all over his body had been made by the cold steel swords and long, painful hours of training since his first steps.

His grandfather wanted to make him a warrior.  
His mother wanted to make him a worthy heir.  
But no one ever asked what he wanted to be, what did he want to be?

Damian didn't know how to answer that question, he never dared to ask himself what he really wanted to be. He had no right to want to be anything other than what the older people he decided for him before he even arrived in this world.

Damian took a deep breath and rubbed his face, tired of thinking too much about his own life, he didn't need to think about it anymore. Nanda Parbat and all of his mother and grandfather's plans died in that plane crash, along with what he should be and what he should lead.

All of that was now gone, he was a Wayne now, he would probably graduate with honors from high school next year, study at some reputable university for a while and take over his father's company while keeping his identity secret on Gotham nights...

He had a predestined future even before he met his father, and he was used to it... He liked to keep things just like that, planned very carefully. The only two times that Damian acted without caution and without planning he ended up with a broken rib and hearing that the only girl he dared to feel something liked another guy.

The only two times he acted on impulse were because of Raven, he would save her again as many times as needed, he wouldn't mind breaking all of his ribs for her. But he bitterly regretted going into her room that night.

For days he couldn't forget the sparkle in her eyes as she said it took her time to notice that she liked that person. For days he turned it into fuel for anger.

The sparkle in her eyes, blue as the ocean...

He never thought of how his favorite thing could hurt. Her ocean eyes, big blue orbits.

Damian couldn't help looking into her eyes, it was like he was being thrown into that ocean from very high.It was unfair for him to feel that way through the eyes of a normal girl who apparently wasn't there for him at all and he felt scared, mainly because he didn't want to like her.

Until he understood that he liked her completely, for who she was beyond those blue eyes and porcelain skin.

He had already drowned in those oceans of her eyes and it was too late, and he couldn't get back to the surface. He liked her, he liked her ocean eyes, her porcelain skin, he liked the smell of lavender that her hair.

It wasn't fair for him to like someone like that.

Damian let the air out slowly as he watched the sun rise in the window, the bedside clock said 6 am and he was more than an hour from that mix of thoughts, ignoring the sensations that grew in him. Ignoring the heat that rose in his lower abdomen and swallowed him completely when he remembered Raven. He ignored all the sensations in his body because he simply preferred to keep thinking about Raven's blue eyes than worrying about the consequences of those memories that woke up in his body.

Damian should know better, he should control himself better... He knew that

He snorted by sliding his hands through his hair, deciding that an hour in an ice bath and a focus on training would be a good distraction. He needed to get used to swallowing that feeling, not having an erection whenever he thought about how damn good it was to have her wet body against his.

Damian spent a considerable time in the shower, feeling the icy water fall on the back of his neck and shoulders as he kept everything he remembered about Raven in his arms and how they had kissed at Oliver Queen's house in the back of his mind.

When Damian got out of the shower, he heard voices and footsteps downstairs, apparently, Tim had woken up and was already receiving visitors as usual. Damian growled at the thought, it was a female voice, probably from some friend from Tim's college and Damian felt his eyes roll automatically.

Wasn't it too soon for Tim to be receiving visitors? It wasn't even 10:00 AM yet... It wasn't possible that he had to receive school visits so early during the school holiday period, people slept a little later on those opportunities, right? Not that he cared about that, he was always up before 6 am.

Damian took a deep breath and changed to train to stop thinking so much, he felt that if one more questioning crossed his mind that day, one more flea appeared behind his ear, his brain would melt. He didn't want to have IQ on the same level as Jason. When Damian left the room, he found Tim pouring a considerable amount of coffee into a cup while talking animatedly to a girl with voluminous blond waves and high-pitched laughter.

_Cassandra Sandsmark, Amazon, Wonder Girl_

Damian knew her, not like Diana or Donna Troy, Cassandra was closest to Tim and was always on missions with him and Tim's former Kryptonian boyfriend, Conner Kent. But Damian knew who she was and the secret entity she was hiding.

Protected from Diana and Donna Troy, she received the sidekick mantle as a gift from the old Olympian gods. She was part of a group of misfits with Tim, Conner Kent and Bart Allen and played superheroes for a while. But teenagers together without any supervision wasn't a good idea.

Everyone has tried to live normal lives now, now and then going back to their old days. This was apparently one of those old days.

\- "Oh... Good morning Damian..." - She grunted smiling at Damian who was crawling to the coffee maker. Damian grunted, Tim had emptied the contents into a single glass

\- "Addicted..." - Damian murmured walking towards the Kitchen cabinets to get a sack of tea - "Good morning Sandsmark"

\- "Bad mood, Dami? Woke up with your left foot?" - Tim had raised eyebrows

\- "That's none of your business, Drake..."

\- "I hope I didn't wake you..." - She grunted timidly from the other side of the bench - "I didn't know you were living together... How long have we not seen each other?"

\- "I think you've been away for a couple of years..."

\- "Themycira makes us completely forget about time..."

\- "I imagine..." - Tim murmured - "Conner commented that you would spend time there doing Amazon things and I figured I couldn't contact you..."

\- "After YJ didn't work I thought it was time to take this training thing and be a wonder girl more seriously... It was an interesting exchange..." - She smiled, shaking the cup before bringing it to her lips - "So... What's the story of you being roommates? The last time I heard about your brotherly relationship, Damian tried to kill you with each new mission..."

\- "Bruce thought it would be better if Damian studied here in San Francisco... As I was already here because of college things, he stays here on weekends"

\- "Father really wanted to punish me this time..."

\- "Ah... It can't be that bad..."

\- "Yeah... It's a nightmare..." - Both Tim and Damian answered together, making Cassie giggle.

\- "Why the Wayne's only blood heir doesn't study at Gotham? You all studied there, right?"

\- "Well... He got this done on his own merit, believe me" - Tim put his hand over his mouth and whispered - "He's not very good at making friends and despite his good name Wayne, he was kicked out of Gotham Academy after threatening to throw a colleague from the tower in the west wing of the school..."

\- "That was just a single time..." - Damian grunted from the back to Tim - "And I don't make threats... That boy was forcing Olive to do things she didn't want to do... A fall from that tower wouldn't kill him"

\- "Are you listening to yourself?"

\- "I just broke my arm in a much bigger fall..." - Damian rolled his eyes - "He would at most break some bone, but he would learn a lesson..."

\- "And with that you got a huge stamp on your 'expulsion' school record... And the badboy reputation you brought here..."

\- "Damian is a hero, in his own way..." - Cassie said smiling - "In Themycira we hear about what he did to save the girl from Hunter's attack..."

\- "I would have killed that bastard if my brothers hadn't stopped me... I hope you and your princes have taken the right attitude towards him... I won't have the same desire to stop if he shows up again."

\- "You know how my sisters are Damian... You know how they deal with men..."

\- "I know that you throw male babies in the sea and still, let Hunter live..."

\- "Hunter is not an Amazon child"

\- "He's not a child either... He's a stalker and if I don't get to the situation in time, a rapist..." - Damian looked at Cassie, his eyes darker than before, as if announcing a storm - "From where I come, rapists receive the maximum penalty... We aren't condescending to someone who is entitled to rape another person like you, the owners of justice, seems to be..."

\- "Was the same treatment for your mother?"

\- "Don't talk about my mother..." - Damian grunted slapping his hand on the counter

\- "Well... I think we better change the subject, right?" - Tim intervened - "When we put the mothers in the conversation it's time to change the subject..."

\- "How's the girl?" - Cassie grunted without taking the frown that formed on her face and looking at Damian

\- "Fine..." - Damian grunted, returning to pay attention to his tea - "Not because of you Amazons, of course... But she is fine..."

\- "She and Damian are..." - Tim paused a long time and then looked at Damian - "Good friends..." - Cassie looked at Damian and then the smile returned to her face as if Tim had said it with all the letters in that pause

\- "Oh..." - She opened her mouth and then jumped - "OH!"

\- "I hate it when you guys just say 'oh'... And I'm going to kill you and your damn big mouth, Drake..."

\- "Do you like her! Oh my God, Damian... You are flushed! Did you really fall in love with someone? OH"

\- "I... I should have kept quiet..." - Tim muttered back to the cafe

\- "Awn Damian... Don't be nervous... Do you know what that is? A bud of life rising on the hard asphalt of your heart..."

\- "Shut up..." - Damian took a deep breath sipping his own tea - "We are friends and that's all..." - It hurt to say that

\- "Long story, open wound still..." - Tim whispered again - "He got kicked in the ass and still doesn't know how to deal with it"

\- "Oh..."

\- "I will not stay here listening to this bullshit... Anything I'm in the training room..."

\- "So early, Dami? Want some help?"

\- "No..." - Damian grunted, turning his back on Tim as he carried a bottle of water and his tea away from the kitchen. He still heard whispers and laughter from Tim and Cassandra, but he wasn't interested.

He had no reason to be interested in gossip about him.

Damian couldn't say how long he stayed there training alone, testing his attention on enemies on the hologram, quickly dodging attacks from all sides. He wanted to go back to what he was before he realized he was in love with Raven's ocean eyes... He didn't like that inattentive and careless version that he had transformed.

The almost fall of the gargoyle when she called him lit a red light in his head _He was getting slow_.

It must have been around 2 pm when Cassie appeared in the training room, watching Damian swerve and score, he was good, as good as Tim was when they were younger. She still remembered when she broke her nose in hand-to-hand combat training in that room against Tim Drake himself.

\- "Can I help, Sandsmark?" - Damian grunted pausing to take a long sip of water while drying the sweat on his face. That boy had grown up since the last time she saw him, now he was a few inches above her.

God she didn't want to imagine the height that her _"almost-brother-in-law"_ Jonathan must have been... The boy had pulled the biggest characteristic of the Kryptonian family and was a real pole two years ago with only 15 years old.

Just like Conner and Clark.

\- "Tim said to tell you that he will order Japanese food..."

\- "I'm not hungry..."

\- "You have been at this pace for about 2 or 3 hours... You need to eat..."

\- "I know what I need, Sandsmark... And it's not a nanny."

\- "Hm..." - She shrugged - "Thank you, Hera... I really don't want to be your nanny..." - She smiled - "So... How's the girl...?"

\- "The smartest girl I know... And the most beautiful too... She manages to look so fucking pretty in that horrible school uniform and she has eyes of-Wait... What am I talking about?" - Damian grunted returning to pay attention to training, that simulation of the soldiers of the league was starting to get boring, he needed to upgrade to a more difficult level. Damian ignored Cassandra's giggles from across the training room - "You are distracting me..."

\- "Well, I asked how she was... Just that..."

\- "Raven is cool... And a friend... That's all..."

\- "Raven? Is that her name?" - Cassandra's head fell to the side - "Name of the bird of death, what an interesting choice of name for a girl..."

\- "Your name is _'Cassandra'_..." - Damian rolled his eyes - "Only old people are called Cassandra"

\- "Your sister is called Cassandra..."

\- "As I said..." - Damian shrugged, dodging another attack - "Cass has the soul of an 80 year old lady..." - Cassie laughed.

\- "Okay... You won..."

\- "Hm... I... Always... Win" - Damian grunted giving one last stroke with the sword, watching the simulator announce the final score and restart as he put himself in position again

\- "Impressive..." - Cassie raised her eyebrows - "Do you always beat your own record?  
\- "This simulation is obsolete... I need to update it..."

\- "If so... Train with me...."

\- "You are Drake's visit..."

\- "And since when did that stop you from anything?" - She grunted laughing - "Besides, I don't have much to do and I want to know more about this Raven who made you look like the teenage boy that you are... Gods, she must have Aphrodite's blessing!" - Damian considered the proposal. He was already feeling bored of just punching and punching that sandbag and that simulation was already so easy that he could finish it while checking his cell phone messages.

Cassandra Sandsmark was an Amazon, a challenge not as difficult as fighting Donna Troy or Diana Prince, but still... The girl had training and knew how to make things difficult like nobody else and Damian liked difficult fights. An amused smile took Damian's sweaty face, which only signaled her to pick up a sword, while he turned off the simulator and put himself in an attack position.

\- "Are you sure, Wayne? I'll brag about it later, with online humiliation..."

\- "Shut up and fight, Sandsmark..." - And before Cassie could reply, Damian went on the attack.

\- "Oh bird boy... No man tells an Amazon to shut up, Damian... And you will learn that..."

On the other side of town, Raven checked the phone for the thousandth time at the last second. She knew that the app car was 5 minutes away and probably stopped at some traffic light but why did it seem like it was taking forever?

\- "Are you coming back for dinner?" - Aunt Alice grunted looking at the girl standing at the door of the house. Raven bit the inside of her cheek and rocked on her feet.

She honestly didn't know...

Everything would depend on how things would turn out after that conversation that she now regretted wanting to have with Damian.

\- "Hm... I... I don't know, aunt..." - Raven put her hair behind her ear - "I'm going to study for a test... Arithmetic or Geometry and take Damian's Christmas present... Maybe I'll be back in the late afternoon... Why?"

\- "Well... You even put on lipstick... I thought it was an important occasion, someone's birthday..."

\- "Ahnn this...? No..." - Raven grunted pointing to her lips. On second thought, now it seemed stupid. She tried to put on makeup and look prettier like on the prom night at Wayne Mansion. He had liked how she looked that night, right? Things had moved in ways she didn't expect but still, he kissed her twice and he danced with her, but thinking about it now that her aunt had said about makeup, it all seemed like too much exaggeration... And the pencil in the eyes? God she looked like a gothic vampire now, but it was too late to regret it and wipe her face, the car was turning around the corner from her house.

She would just clean up when she got the chance, she just needed a convincing excuse for it... She would think about it later.

Raven said goodbye to her aunt Alice and left almost stumbling while running to the car that was barely parked in front of the house, too nervous to be able to pay attention to her steps while cursing herself in 3 different languages.

The trip was partially silent, Raven was not willing to talk to a complete stranger and the driver made the sign of the cross twice discreetly while looking at Raven in the rearview mirror. Apparently, even in the 21st century, people like her were considered satanic for just wearing something not so conventional, even though you asked about her life a few times.

She wasn't interested in having a conversation, anyway. Her mind had other concerns such as the fact that the driver was an unknown man and what she was planning to do. Raven squeezed her hand tightly around the package she stupidly tried to wrap around the gifts she had bought for Damian as the taxi turned corner after corner, cutting traffic jams and taking the isolated road that led to the luxurious building where Damian Wayne lived.

She was still apprehensive about the app's driver, but decided to push the paranoia deep in her chest. It was silly, she needed to overcome this fear or she would never be able to live. How would she go to college after that year if she couldn't even get a taxi without feeling her heart race and adrenaline rush through her veins?

Raven took a few deep breaths, ignoring all of that... She needed to focus on some things and she needed to stay calm or she was just going to screw it up ahead of time.

And she had other reasons to be nervous... That reason that she had spent the whole day training in front of the mirror. Was she really willing to say everything she felt to Damian?

Raven honestly had no idea...

The day before, Raven woke up determined that she was going to tell Damian everything that was happening to her. She no longer wanted to keep those feelings because they were starting to boil and pour into her, and they were getting in the way of almost everything. She wrapped the presents in that black polka-dot paper she was holding in her hands now, but when Damian sent her a message saying she was in San Francisco, Raven felt all that determination drain through her fingers.

She ended up making excuses to go to him, but that day she had no more choices... Tim's party was very close and if she didn't do it right now, she would risk ruining the entire party if he rejected it. Raven felt a chill in her stomach, it was like she already expected to be rejected

But she didn't want to be rejected by Damian

She felt confused and she hated that feeling.

Then, calmly, she just took a deep breath and decided to go the next day to the luxurious T-shaped building, feeling her heart thunder against her chest. Raven remained silent all the way, replaying the conversation in her head without forgetting a single detail or she would burn. She should stay calm so as not to just throw everything on him, it would scare him like hell.

When the car stopped in front of the 20-story building, Raven took a few deep breaths, paid the driver and got out of the car, unsure whether to touch the intercom or just run away and pretend it never happened. She still remembered perfectly the first time she was in that building, that fateful party.

At the time, she really felt like she hated him, until they kissed in the middle of the dance floor amid blue and red lights and to the sound of infectious beat music. Raven remembered the song to this day, months after it happened. She remembered Damian's strong hands on her neck perfectly, tangled in her hair as he tapped his lips against hers.

Raven felt a shiver go up from his toe to his last hair... how they changed everything since that kiss. From enemies who became friends and that she now felt things that she didn't want to feel, but couldn't help feeling.

She never wanted to feel it for him, never wanted to kiss him or feel like her world was turned upside down with those emeralds in his eyes that left her mesmerized... But here she was, about to confess everything she was feeling... God she could feel her bones tremble just thinking about saying _"I like you"_ to him...

Raven swallowed and took frightened steps to the intercom, Tim appeared on the camera system almost the same time that Raven's trembling index finger pressed the button with a smile on his lips and euphoric, opening the door for her before she could say something.

Raven swallowed as he walked towards the building's entrance hall. She had already been there several times when she was going to keep Damian company when his rib broke, but now... Now it looked totally different...

Perhaps it was for the reason that she was there, that gift in her hands now seemed like a silly excuse to be able to see him after weeks without seeing his irritating personality. Raven looked in the elevator mirror, god, she felt pathetic...

She hated how annoying he could be and here she was thinking like a silly dreamer and in love with whatever he did.

\- "Raven!" - Strong arms went to her, lifting her off the floor when the elevator doors opened, pulling and pinning her back to earth. For a fraction of a second she thought it might be Damian, but her expectations were thrown to the ground when she turned and found herself with calm blue ocean eyes and not angry emeralds - "How long I haven't seen you! Since the Wayne dance right? How are you?"

\- Ahnn hey Timmy..." - Raven grunted smiling as she adjusted his clothes, messed up by Tim Drake's sudden embrace, walking into the spacious mirrored room. Raven noticed boxes of Japanese food on the kitchen counter and a video game on TV, along with two notebooks, which Tim ran to close before Raven approached.

The strange things that the Wayne boys always did when she was around, as if she was interested in the mysteries that family hid...

No, she wasn't.

Raven's eyes roamed across the room and the spacious kitchen (open concept... Raven liked that) looking for some sign of Damian, but it all looked just like a single kid's apartment and alone like Tim Drake...

Various cups of coffee, delivery food, covered on the couch and video game...Definitely a single apartment.

\- "So... Sorry for the mess, Raven..." - Tim murmured picking things up from the sofa and playing somewhere behind the spacious sofa so she could settle - "I was in a game of online video game with Duke..."

\- "Okay..."

\- "Can I offer you anything? You had lunch? Dami apparently didn't want to come up for lunch so there's a lot of food left in the kitchen..."

\- "Hm... No need..." - Raven smiled - "Aunt Alice wouldn't let me leave the house without eating..."

\- "Ah..." - Tim stopped what he was doing and looked at Raven with a smile - "She is right, anyway... I feel that she and Alfred would get along very well discussing ways to torture their children in the best way..."

\- "Yes" - Raven laughed - "She and Alfred would be good friends..."

\- "And how was your Christmas? I hope less crazy than ours, you know how Dick, Jason and Dami are... They make everyone's day a hell..."

\- "I had Rose in my house and she is almost equivalent to having Jason, so..." - Raven shrugged - "But, aside from the fact that because of her one weekend I lost almost $40 dollars to the swear jar, my Christmas was... Quiet... In the best of possibilities... With egg yolks and green wool sweaters... And songs about baby jesus..."

\- "Ah the traditional Christian Christmas... Bruce's maternal family is Jewish so... We have everything..."

\- "Is Damian Jewish?"

\- "Damian is the antichrist himself, what do you think? He has no religion because of his crazy mother... But he does everything to make Alfred happy so he just... Enjoys the holidays..."

\- "He's not that antichrist..." - Raven said laughing, she liked to see the relationship between them all... It was something she didn't have at home - "What could he have done to make you think that? He was just a kid when he arrived, right?"

\- "Trying to sabotage every step I took and almost killing me when he arrived in the city was the beginning... If you only knew how high I fell because of him..." - Tim grunted almost looking offended - "Damian is the antichrist... "- He rolled his eyes - "But what about you? Christian?"

\- "No... My aunt insists on making everything very traditional... I don't remember a Christmas that was any different..." - Raven gave a thin smile - "Mom didn't believe in religious things, so... Before Aunt Alice, I didn't know what was really Christmas... It was just a day like any other..."

\- "Ah..." - Tim nodded slowly - "And... You never looked for your mother after? You don't have to answer if you don't want to, anyway ... It's just ... A curiosity..."

\- "Uhhnn... Okay... No problem..." - Raven smiled - "I see no problem talking about my runaway mother..." - Raven smiled awkwardly - "Well... No, I never saw any need for look for someone who left me when I didn't even understand what was going on... Aunt Alice is a good mother-aunt..."

\- "Ahnn... Of course... Family is the one who takes care of you..."

\- "Don't get me wrong Timmy, I love my mom... She went through horrible things and the result of these things was me... I don't judge her, but if she left me, there's no reason for me to go after her since she didn't want me around... Aunt Alice is a good maternal figure and I'm happy with that..."

\- "And I'm glad you don't feel alone despite the regrets..." - Tim walked over to her, placing his hands on Raven's shoulder - "But... If you need company of abandoned people with troubled families, know that we are here..." - Raven smiled, Tim was a good person, almost as pure as a small child... If she described what color Tim's aura would have, it would be baby blue, because his soul conveyed peace and purity that no other person had... Although his strength is enough to break bones.

\- "Thank you..." - She smiled, giving Tim a tight hug

\- "But anyway... You certainly didn't come here to talk about your mother with me, right?"

\- "Hm? Ahnnn..."

\- "You came to see Dami..."

\- "N-No... It's not like I came to see just him... I mean... Yes... But I came to see you too... I just... I needed to give this gift to him..."

\- "King and Queen of denial..." - Tim murmured returning to organize the mess of coffee cups and food boxes from the kitchen - "Dami is at the gym... Downstairs, you can go there... Maybe you can do it convince him to have lunch..."

\- "Ahnn... Sure... I'm going... I'm going to call him..."

\- "Okay..." - Raven gave a shy smile and turned on her back walking to the elevator again, before the door closed, she had the impression that Tim shouted something related to someone to her that she couldn't hear what it was about .

She would ask him later, it's not like Damian has someone there, right?

Raven swayed on her feet as the elevator went back down just one floor, opening the door to a spacious and luxurious gym. Raven stepped out of the elevator slowly, watching the treadmills and weightlifting around her, she wondered why only two people who lived in that apartment needed 4 treadmills, 5 weightlifting and 3 sandbags, but she didn't question... Rich people doing rich things...

Something she should be used to, being friends with Damian.

The sound of Damian's growl pulled her toward the sound in the back of the room, but the female laugh made Raven's heart stop and start beating again quickly in a fraction of a second.

Who was there? Was Damian with a girl? Why was she laughing? Raven walked at a slow pace to where the sounds of what appeared to be a fun joke came from and couldn't move when watching the scene in front of her

There, with a funny grimace on his face, Damian was defeated, lying on the ground, both arms up while a wooden sword was being pressed on his neck by a beautiful and sculptural blonde woman. She laughed looking exhausted, but she had strong arms and white skin, but a little tan, her hair tied in a high ponytail as she immobilized Damian sitting on top of him, her two legs running around his waist while her hands was pressing the sword with both hands.

They seemed to be enjoying themselves and very intimate, and Raven felt her heart break. How did she ever think that Damian might have a model like that as a girlfriend? How she let herself be deceived that he could look at her when he had an older and prettier girl by his side... She should have reminded herself of the possible exuberant girls he could have...

She was nothing compared to that...

She was just a weird punk girl that he met...

She was just a girl that maybe he wanted to kiss in a moment, nothing much. Maybe that party bet was much more than just showing up at the party...

And now, she felt stupid.

Raven stood there looking at them for what seemed like an eternity, she wanted to get out of there and run and never see Damian in front of her again, but it was stupid... He never said he liked her, it's not like he fed her feelings. But Raven felt strange, with a sour taste in her mouth and a painful, bad feeling in her chest until Damian tilted his head toward her, his green eyes widen when he saw Raven standing there, with eyes of the ocean about to overflow.

\- "Raven!?"


	23. Chapter 23

\- _Raven !?_

Damian managed to mumble after a considerable period of silence, watching Raven in front of him. For some stupid reason, he felt ashamed that Raven saw him in **that** position.

It's not like he was doing something and it's not like Raven could care too, but Cassandra was sitting on top of him and laughing... Anyone else who saw them both that way, would think anything... Damian didn't want Raven to think that, either, not that it made any sense.

It's not like Raven is going to be jealous of him, they were friends and she liked someone...

But even so, Damian felt embarrassed... His cheeks got hot and he wasn't sure if it was because of training or because of shame and he quickly pushed Cassie off him, who let out a loud "Ouch" upon reaching the tatami mat.

Raven said nothing, just stood there watching him get up quickly and wipe his hands and face on a towel before taking a deep breath and walking over to her. Damian didn't quite know what to do, he just wanted her to say something...

She was different, her hair had little red highlights mixed with black and she had cut it a little since the last time he saw her. Before her hair was long enough to reach her rib, now it was just below her shoulder, about a foot shorter than it was before. Damian felt strange, was it normal to notice minor differences like that in a person you like?

_And oh holy gods, she looked even more beautiful, if that were possible..._

Damian swallowed his thoughts with difficulty trying to control the dance of thunderstorms that formed in his chest, each time he watched her, the more his heart beat faster. He would die of a heart attack, Raven would be the cause...

That was the only certainty he had. _And he would die happy_...

It took forever for Raven to shift her eyes elsewhere in the room, shifting her feet and changing her posture.

\- "Hm... I... I can come back later..." - Her voice sounded low, hoarse and almost broken - "I don't want to disturb anything and..."

\- "You don't disturb anything..." - Damian hurried to say - "You aren't disturbing anything..."

\- "Hm..." - She swayed on her feet and then, again, a deadly silence enveloped the 3 people present in the room crammed with athletic equipment.

\- "Oh... Is she the famous Raven? The one you keep talking about?" - Cassie spoke smiling and pointing at Raven with the wooden sword and then looked at Damian and again at Raven, analyzing her from head to toe as if scanning her with her eyes with a smile hidden on her face. Damian felt a strange weight on his chest and felt like he wanted to explain himself to her and take those ocean-accusing eyes off her.

Raven clicked her tongue, clearly irritated, shifting the weight on her feet again. Okay, things were weird and Damian didn't know the real reason for that... He could feel there, without her opening her mouth, that she was really angry He could feel there, without her opening her mouth, that she was really angry and the worst was that he couldn't even understand what the real reason was for leaving Raven with that dark look on him and Cassandra.

Could it be that Cassandra was sitting on top of him? Could it be that Raven was jealous? Jealous of who? Damian wasn't doing anything too much... He was training combat with a girl...

It's not like he didn't have a wooden sword around his neck when it arrived.

\- "Erm..." - Raven murmured, her voice drier than she wanted to show. Damian's cheeks were flushed and if it was another time, Raven would find this the most adorable thing in the world but now, she had this poison intoxication and making her angry for something she didn't even feel entitled to feel. She could feel that poison boiling inside her, running through her veins and god, she just wanted to spit it out. Raven swallowed and she pushed anything she was feeling or finding and watched him take a timid step towards her, while she was trying to find her reason and her own voice - "Tim told me you would be here and..." - 

Why did he have that stupid smile on his face? She wanted to force that smile off his lips. Wasn't he seeing how it was broken? Didn't he feel it in her voice? He was such an idiot! Raven felt the anger burning in her eyes, but at the same time, she shook her head and pushed that feeling back inside... He never made her believe he felt anything for her... If she was feeling her heart broken now, it was only because of her and her stupid teenage butter heart.

She was an idiotic battle within her and she felt like that poison of jealousy was winning this battle...

_God, that was pathetic..._

_She was pathetic..._

\- "Sandsmark, this is Raven..." - Damian grunted pointing at Raven and then turned to Raven, her ocean eyes threatening to sink and drown Damian in a tide of angry emotions - "Raven, this is Sandsmark..."

\- "Cassandra..." - Cassie gave a slight push, taking Damian out of the way to reach out to Raven. The dark-haired girl looked at the blonde's hand for a few seconds before holding it, giving a dry smile - If you didn't say my name to her Damian, she'll be calling me by the last name like you, _baby bat_... - Great, they had affectionate nicknames... Raven almost wanted to repeat _'baby bat'_ ironically, but she bit her tongue before the words left her mouth.

\- "Don't call me that," - Damian growled, rolling his eyes.

\- "Shut up, _baby bat_..." - Cassandra grunted laughing, showing her tongue while looking back at Raven - "Nice to meet you Raven... I'm a longtime friend of Tim and Damian..."

\- "Raven..." - Raven muttered shaking Cassandra's hand - "I'm... Damian's classmate..."

_Classmate?_ Damian felt it hit him in a weird way

\- "Damian told me a lot about you..."

\- "I imagine so, Cassandra..." - Raven grunted dropping Cassie's hand as if she were holding something disgusting.

\- "Oh my gods, Damian, you didn't tell me how beautiful she was... Surely she has Aphrodite's blessings!" - She laughed excitedly - "No wonder you're so i-"

\- "Is everything okay, Raven?" - Damian asked almost timidly interrupting Cassandra with a nudge in the rib of the golden-haired woman. She looked strange, angry, as if she had seen what she didn't want to see.

There they were again, Damian's paranoias, making him think of a thousand different scenarios while trying to find a way out for all of them.

\- "Yeah... In fact, everything is very well..." - Raven grunted, his head tilting to the side while looking at Damian - "Why wouldn't it be?"

\- "I don't know... You look... Different..."

\- "I'm not different... This is just your paranoia... Would I have reason to be strange?"

\- "Hm... No... So I asked if everything is ok..." - Damian grunted rolling his eyes

\- "So... I think Tim needs me now..." - Cassie grunted looking at the two teenagers - "It was a good training Damian, but... I'm exhausted, hungry... We trained more in another hour" - She grunted smiling at the two teenagers

\- "I will beat you next time, Sandsmark... I have already discovered your weakness..."

\- "We'll see, bird boy..." - She smiled - "Nice to meet you, Raven..."

\- "It's my pleasure, Cassandra..."

\- "Call me Cassie... Only Diana calls me Cassandra... It's annoying..."

\- "Okay... _Cassie_... - The word came out as spat by Raven and Damian felt weird. It was like she was spitting poison out of her mouth. Cassandra seemed to have noticed it too, but just smiled and gave Damian a okay sign before leaving the training room, leaving the two teenagers facing each other and a strange silence taking over them.

They were silent looking everywhere at the gym except for each other, until Damian decided he couldn't stand that overwhelming sensation between them anymore and decided to break the silence. It was as if the months of friendship and understanding they had built had come down and it was all because Damian couldn't understand why Raven looked so angry.

_Could she be jealous? Was he like that when she told him she liked someone at school?_

\- "You are here..." - He smiled trying to lighten the mood, but Raven just remained stoic looking all over the room

\- "Hmm... Yes..."

\- "You said we needed to talk... Did something happen while I was in Gotham? If it is a tabloid because of the ball, I guarantee that it will end soon, before classes return and..."

\- "It's nothing, Damian..." - She grunted rolling her eyes - "I just needed to talk to you..."

\- "_Needed_? Don't need more?"

\- "I don't know..." - She shrugged

\- "Look..." - He reached out to grab her arm but he stepped back the moment he saw her take a step back - "I need to take a shower because I'm sweaty from training and this gym stinks of sweat... You mind waiting a while?"

\- "No..." - Raven shrugged

\- "Erm... Okay..." - Damian pursed his lips in a thin line, before throwing the towel over his shoulders and walking towards the elevator, Raven beside him with his arms crossed. - "Hm... I thought you would come yesterday..."

\- "I told you I couldn't..." - Raven murmured looking ahead - "My aunt needed me and... I couldn't leave her to come here..."

\- "Of course..." - Damian murmured when the elevator door closed in front of him - "Did you dye your hair... Red? Nice..."

\- "Ahnn... Yeah... Rose and Tara thought it might be cool to have something different when classes return... It's not permanent, anyway..." - She took a deep breath

\- "It suited you... And I'm being honest..."

\- "Mm... Thank you..."

\- "You are welcome..." - Damian murmured smiling, Raven remained expressionless, as if they were two strangers.

Damian felt strange, desperate. He didn't like her coldness and didn't like to notice that she was back to what she was before everything between them happened. He learned what it was like to have a friend who could trust and learn together besides Jon Kent and he didn't want to lose that... He didn't want to lose Raven's friendship for anything, it was the first time he felt good with someone and that came from before he realized he liked her.He had enjoyed being friends with her before he fell in love with her...

And now, he couldn't understand what was happening or why she was acting that way. 

_Could it be jealous? But why? She didn't feel anything for him, right?_

_And he wasn't doing anything..._

_He was just training..._

_And Cassie took him down..._

_And okay, Raven arrived just when she was sitting on top of him, her legs around his waist and immobilizing him..._

_It's not like they're making out..._

Not that Damian thought about it, Cassie wasn't his type... She just looked like all the Gotham socialite girls and he definitely didn't like it. So why was Raven awkward with him? It's not like Raven likes him... Why was she jealous? Damian wanted to ask, but felt that it would start a drama in which he was not interested in participating.

Hopefully, she would relax over the hours and see that she was being tough on him for no reason, if she was being tough on him... Damian felt that when he came from Raven, he was always being overly dramatic... He still hadn't gotten over going to her room at the mansion... When it was about Raven, he never knew if he was being too paranoid, and that was from the beginning, when his eyes met the strange and beautiful eyes of the ocean from Raven...

Gods, who did he want to deceive? The thought of losing Raven's friendship and affection drove him crazy.

Part of him still believed he was just paranoid and ashamed. And here he was again, thinking hard. Damian shook his head, brushing away those thoughts that lurked in his head like flies in the trash. He could already feel his own brain melting. Going up an elevator floor never took so long, in Damian's opinion. Her silence was terrifying and the fear and questions that grew in his chest were so agonizing that he didn't know where he started and where he ended...

He just didn't know why he felt that way.

When the elevator doors opened, revealing the interior of the apartment again for both teenagers, Damian and Raven left in a deadly silence. Tim and Cassie were sitting in the living room in a lively conversation with someone on a video call and hardly noticed the two teenagers there. Damian warned Raven that he would not be long in the shower and that they could talk somewhere else and Raven just shrugged walking towards the window without much desire to hear whatever Damian wanted to say.

She really was weird, and Damian could see the wall between them being raised again. And he didn't like that wall anymore. He didn't like to think about the possibility of not having her clumsy smiles anymore when she entered the room or the hours they spent talking about everything and nothing in the stands.

She didn't want to go back to what they were before because he didn't want to lose Raven. He had accepted that he would just be a friend of hers and that she liked another boy and would be happy about it, but now... Now it seemed that none of this mattered anymore because Raven was angry with him...

And he couldn't even imagine why...

She wouldn't be jealous of him... She couldn't be jealous of him because she didn't feel anything for him... He still went over what she had said when he kissed her in the darkness of her room at Wayne mansion every night to remind her of himself from the failure he had been.

Nobody like Raven would be jealous of him because nobody like Raven would like him enough for that.

Damian let the water fall on his body while thinking about what could have happened and ended up not reaching any conclusion and also, gave up trying to understand. He had been raised to be the best at everything, but he just couldn't seem to be the best when it came to understanding... And he definitely sucked at understanding himself.

He still ended up wondering if his heart was in trouble when Raven was close, it wasn't humanly possible how much his heart sped up just seeing her eyes on him, and everything got immensely worse when she smiled at him... But there , he felt something different, his heart seemed to want to break just seeing her eyes cold and indifferent and he honestly didn't know what he had to do nor did he know what he had to fix all that shit, he just wanted to fix it.

Damian took a deep breath and got out of the shower remembering that he had left her waiting in the living room with Tim and Cassandra and that was definitely not the best option. Cassandra would probably say something and Tim's mouth was as loose as a ragged zippered bag... If he took too long in the bath, it was quite possible that they would worsen any situation that had been built in that awkward minute in the training room.

Damian got dressed as quickly as he could, running to find the place where she had been before looking at the horizon, completely empty and the package she held, with black dots, deposited on the kitchen counter. Damian swallowed and thought about looking for her... Maybe she was just somewhere else with Tim and Cassandra, right?

Damian's hopes were shattered minutes later.

\- "Oh finally you got out of your princess bath..."

\- "Shut up, Drake..." - Damian grunted without looking at his brother

\- "Raven should appear more often in Gotham... She appears and magically you really take a shower..."

\- "What?" - Cassandra grunted laughing behind Tim

\- "The gremlin is not the biggest fan of bathing or taking off that damn uniform..."

\- "You talk too much, Drake..." - Damian grunted rolling his eyes - "I just think that a bath every time we go on patrol is not necessary..."

\- "Of course... When we're not on patrol, it's the only hours when you're not wearing that uniform and then Alfred can finally wash it..."

\- "Is that how you intended to win over a girl like Raven?" - Cassandra raised an eyebrow - "She has Aphrodite's blessings and you... Don't you bathe?"

\- "I take a bath!" - Damian growled angrily - "And why is this question so important? It's not like your favorite subject is how many baths I take or not..."

\- "No need to be nervous, _little bat_...

\- "Don't call me that..." - Damian grunted rolling his eyes - "Anyway, where's Raven? I said I wouldn't be long in the shower and..."

\- "She said she needed to go..." - Tim said grimaced - "She quickly moved the phone and then asked us to give it to you..." - He pointed to the package on the counter

\- "She left?"

\- "Yes..." - Tim raised his eyebrow - "We went to take her in the taxi and when we got back, you were there looking at nothing and thinking about the calf's death..."

\- "I'm not doing this!"

\- "You were" - Cassandra said holding a giggle - "You like her, I don't know why you don't put the cards on the table at once..."

\- "Oh he did..." - Tim mumbled with an eyebrow - "He invaded her room in the middle of the night dressed like robin, didn't say it was him there and declared himself to her and she just kicked him in the ass..." - Tim looked at Damian and then looked at Cassandra - "Cassie... Please hide the knives..." - He murmured - "Anyway..." - Tim said holding a laugh as he walked towards the coffee maker to prepare more coffee. Damian grunted rolling his eyes, he really was addicted to caffeine - "She left this package for you... Said it's yours Christmas gift and asked us to deliver it to you..." - Damian took a deep breath and took the package in his hands, looking at how it was unregulated and wrapped carelessly and he could be sure it was her job. And he felt strangely happy, for reasons he still considered stupid, he felt as if his heart had grown and doubled in size, if that was possible.And yet, he felt stupid for feeling that way, silly and stupid for a girl who didn't like him the way he liked her.

Damian almost couldn't help smiling like a passionate idiot when he saw that there was a copy of American Idiot. Green Day and a portable version of Cheese Vikings... 

He had been obsessed with that video game when he was 13, and he didn't know how to feel when he saw that Raven remembered him telling her about it... Green Day was one of the bands she had indicated to him when he was bedridden because of a broken rib.He felt strange, it was like he felt that for the first time, he was really heard and understood by someone and that was something...

Damian tried to call her to say thanks soon after, but for some reason that made him scared and worried, she never answered. And that went on for three days which, to him, seemed frustratingly long... Raven didn't answer his messages and didn't answer the calls he made, said nothing about what had happened to her, and Rose and Tara didn't help much, in fact, neither of them wanted to pass on Raven's address to him saying that he should let her cool her head before anything ...

Rose even called him an _asshole_ and he didn't even know the real reason for all this

On the 31st, New Year's Eve, Damian began to feel strangely anxious that they had already gone 3 days with no response from Raven, no matter how much he filled her messages of _"what happened?"_... 

_And he hated it..._

He never felt that way, no one ever ignored him like that and he was never accused of something he didn't know if he had actually done... Damian spent those nights reviewing in his mind what could have happened and as much as he tried to find one In response, the only conclusion he had was that Raven was upset to see him training with Cassandra.

_But why would she be jealous of him?_

_Why would she be jealous of someone like him?_

Damian snorted looking up at the ceiling, what was he thinking? He was an Al Ghul, a Wayne before all this shitty sentimentality... He was a robin and he shouldn't be sighing in the corners just because Raven decided to freak him out without even giving him the right to defend himself.

He could hear the movement of things being dragged around the room and all of Tim's stuff being put together and Cassandra's voice over New Year's decorations and heard Dick and Barbara's voice when they arrived at the penthouse but, he honestly didn't give a damn for none of that. This whole situation had put an end to any desire for him to go to whatever the shit Tim put and think that Raven would show up after 3 full days ignoring him was stupid... She wouldn't show up and he wouldn't be surprised if she don't talk to him at the Academy anymore either... He just wanted to understand what had happened so that she would treat him like that. Damian grunted and put a pillow over his face, how dare he ever think that someone would really be friends with him? Raven was too good for him and he should have understood that the moment she entered his life. If he had noticed before, if he had been smart enough to notice before, he would have avoided all of this sentimental and broken mess he was now.

He would have avoided sinking into the ocean of Raven's eyes if he had been smart enough to notice that he couldn't go back to the edge.

Damian spent the day trying to avoid the mess that Dick, Tim, Barbara and Cassandra were putting down as much as possible and tried to avoid going to the damn party as much as possible, but after having Dick and Cassandra singing annoying New Year songs in his room and saying that would only stop if he went to the party, he ended up giving in out of anger. He would stay a few minutes and after he noticed that Dick, Tim and Cassandra were no longer paying attention to him, he would go back to the room and no one would notice how at all the parties that Tim gave in that penthouse.

Tim's guests started arriving a little after 9 pm and the music was playing loudly over the speakers suspended in the room. The sofa was pushed to the extreme corner near the glass windows from ceiling to floor where some people were already huddled, watching the bay gain flashing lights in the city and Damian found himself wondering where Raven would be, if she was going to celebrate Christmas with her uncles or I would accept to be dragged somewhere with Rose.

Damian snorted, rolling his eyes as he walked to the small bar set up on the kitchen counter to drink something that would stop him thinking about Raven for at least a damn hour. It was a new year, he didn't want to sigh around the corners of the penthouse like a dying dog while a bunch of drunk people bumped into him

In town, Raven grunted as Rose made her get out of bed and get ready. She had done her best to avoid Damian since she left the apartment where he lived and she was doing well so far, keeping her distance helped to make her stupid heart stop hurting. She lost count of how many times she threw the phone into the desk drawer to control the ridiculous urge to answer all 325 _"did something happen?"_, _"Did I do something to you?"_ and _"Please tell me a damn thing"_ that he had sent her...

Not that she was counting

Raven knew that at one time or another she would need to talk to him, she knew she was being cowardly and irrational for just disappearing like that, but she knew she couldn't just say everything she wanted and felt now, not when she felt sad and broken by be so stupid. 

Not when she still liked him... And a lot.

But Rose definitely wouldn't let her spend the New Year alone at home... 

Aunt Alice had gone to church and taken the whole family and Rose was just there, trying to get Raven out of a dying state in the middle of the New Year. Raven knew that Rose would drag her away, willingly or unwillingly, so she made a point of complaining about it every minute that Rose made her her favorite porcelain doll.Raven looked in the mirror growling when she was ready to leave. Rose had let her get away from the tight dresses and skirts glued to her body, but Raven was unable to escape the bright makeup and wavy hair falling into strands on Raven's shoulders, contrasting with the pale skin of Raven's bare shoulder. Raven protested because of the cold it could be, but in exchange he got a curse from Rose and his jacket was thrown over her shoulders. Raven just let her aunt know where she really went even though she knew she would be back before the church vigil was over and practically crawled out the door with Rose, who wore glasses that flashed around the year number on the lens.

Rose was so extra and Raven knew she loved her for that...

She knew that as much as Rose was so Rose Wilson, she would never leave her alone in any celebration and she also knew how protective she became when Raven got hurt ... If something happened, she knew that Rose would not hesitate to leave a beautiful purple in the face of anyone... And that included Damian.Thanks to how much Raven curled up to get ready and they managed to call a taxi amid the chaos of families and friends heading for their respective celebrations, the two arrived at the already noisy party when everyone seemed well at ease with the music loud, the light flashing in a makeshift track and a Tim Drake running a Beer poing table while holding a not-so-recommended amount of what seemed to be energetic. From the laughter and the movement, Raven knew that the 50 or so people had been there for over an hour. Rose held Raven's hand for the first 20 or 30 minutes and when Raven felt like an idiot child, she released Rose to do whatever she wanted to do...

And that meant going after Tim Drake, Damian's brother...

Raven walked among the people a little, knowing the place as if it were her own home even though it wasn't as she had seen it the last time she was there. The expensive, dark sofa was pushed to the extreme corner next to the floor-to-ceiling glass window and instead of the fluffy carpet, there was a square carpet that blinked in psychedelic shapes that left Raven dizzy for the 5 minutes she was looking. The room, which was spacious, now had enough space for a dance floor to be the envy of big nightclubs that existed in San Francisco, with flashing lights, music coming out of every corner and people with beer bottles in their hands jumping in uncoordinated ways. The stairs leading to the terrace were decorated with flashing lights and Raven was sure that if she went up the flights of stairs and looked there, she would see a pool as decorated as any other part of San Francisco. Raven thought the penthouse was one of the most beautiful houses she had ever seen, all open and with only a flight of stairs that led to the rooms on the opposite side of the stairs from the pool and barbecue area. But she just felt awkward there after ignoring Damian for 3 full days...

She felt a strange deja vu, as if she was facing exactly where it all started...

It was there that she kissed Damian for the first time, to the sound of an addictive beat of music that seemed to say that what she thought the moment she let herself be carried by his lips, under flashing lights and letting no one see who they were for sure, but that she could tell perfectly where every little scar on his face was.

Raven sighed, pushing those memories to the bottom. She hadn't seen Damian until then, maybe he was tired of how much she ignored him and was in Gotham again. Dick and Barbara were there talking to some people that Raven had never seen before and Tim was apparently on the run from Rose again. Raven took a deep breath and tried to clear her mind in the middle of that ringing in her ear and the dizziness that the lights caused while she decided to grab something to drink when she saw him, sitting on the couch in his black turtle collar blouse and hair tied in a high bun and clumsy, holding a red cup in his hands while he seemed to be very attentive to what the golden-haired girl was talking to him.

Sometimes she would come close to his ear and they would laugh at something that looked like a lot of fun. The music sounded loudly over the speakers but Raven didn't feel as if the ringing in her ear was caused by exposure to them... She could feel all the effort she had in the past 3 days being thrown in the trash in vain and she felt that poison taking over her again... He hadn't seen her yet so she could just turn her back and go... Rose was too busy dancing and jumping and trying to chase Tim to see if Raven was there or not and still it was just past 22:40... She would be able to take a taxi and pretend she had never stepped there before.

And be a damn coward like the other time she left when he asked her to wait.

Raven wasn't a coward... Raven was a damn proud.

This thing about liking someone hadn't changed that about her.

Raven swallowed that poison with disgust, disguising the taste in whatever it was inside that glass she had found, trying to settle on whatever conversation was going on near her, gaining the attention of a blue-eyed guy she saw talking to Tim Drake on the computer when it all happened.

\- "Hey goth girl... Are you lost?" - He grunted, watching Raven lean against the bench unrepentantly as if waiting for someone to talk to her.

Raven honestly didn't expect anyone to actually speak to her, most people there were Tim's age and probably thought she was just some teenager there. She just wanted to get out of sight where Damian was talking to the beautiful blonde with tan skin and blue eyes in the pool.

Raven looked around, wondering if the man in the flannel shirt was talking to her.

\- "I'm sorry but ... Are you talking to me?"

\- "Of course I'm talking to you... There is no other gothic girl really combining silver and leather jacket here" - He said smiling - "Conner..." - He grunted smiling, extending his hand to her - "Conner Kent"

\- "I'm not goth..." - Raven replied quickly - "Raven... Raven Roth" - She smiled pursing her lip, shaking his hand - "Kent? That name isn't strange to me..."

\- "Of course..." - He smiled, crossing his arms, flexing his chest muscles - "I'm Clark Kent's son"

\- "Oh!" - Raven raised her eyebrow... Another brother from Jon - "I study with Jon, but I didn't know that Jon had another brother besides... _Hunter_" - Saying his name made her cringe...

\- "Yeah... Everyone remembers the bastard son of the Greek princess... But ah!" - He smiled and slapped his forehead - "Of course... Raven... Bird name... The pretty bird that Jon and Damian always talk about..."

-"Ahnn... What?"

\- "Nothing..." - He rolled his eyes - "Did you come with Damian? I believe that goblin must be mumbling around... Cassie said he was hard to deal with in the last few days and Timbo said he was about to throw himself out of the window if he heard Damian texting..." - He stopped and looked at Raven and then, went back on what he was thinking to say - "If I heard Damian mumbling around the corner again..."

\- "I..." - Raven looked at her glass swinging the liquid inside him - "Actually no, I didn't come with Damian... I... I came with Rose Wilson... My friend..."

\- "Ah... Of course..." - He smiled - "Come on, you can't drink this horrible thing they're serving her... I know where Timbo keeps better things" - He smiled, waving Raven to follow him towards the fridge, easily passing through the crowd of people trying to get close to grab a glass of that punch that seemed to have a huge dose of ethyl alcohol. Raven hesitated to follow the stranger, making him smile and drop his head - "What? It's just up to the refrigerator" - He pointed with his thumb at the refrigerator behind him.

Raven bit the inside of her cheek and rocked on her heels undecided whether to follow the boy or not. She shouldn't be following people she didn't know, but it's not like he's going to take her to a dark and empty place.

She took a deep breath and walked over to the boy who was actually taller and bigger than anyone else there.

On the couch, Damian tried his best to focus on what Cassandra Sandsmark was talking to him about, it was something about him trying to assemble a team of teen superheroes in San Francisco like when Tim was the robin like him, but he couldn't hear what she said, and honestly, he didn't give a shit about when Tim and the kryptonian clone were caught out of the closet by their team.

Damian smiled to just not have to answer if he was listening.

He didn't want to be there and that punch in his hands seemed more interesting than hearing the stories of the blonde woman next to him. Honestly, he would rather listen to Jason's teasing than Cassandra constantly telling him about the advantages of teamwork, but Jason had decided to spend the New Year in Star City for a reason that Damian didn't need details to understand what it meant.

_Roy Harper..._

Damian looked ahead, ignoring the ringing in his ear of the sound playing loudly on the speakers and Cassandra's voice still chattering when he saw Rose Wilson standing there with two glasses in hand. Rose Wilson was there? If she were there, maybe ...

\- "...You may find it difficult to live with other teenagers at first but..."

\- "Excuse me, Sandsmark... I... I need to go to someone..."

\- "Raven? She is here? Oh my god, let's see her!"

\- "No... It's not Raven..." - He swallowed - "And I don't think it would be a good idea after what happened that day..." - Damian grunted more to himself than in response to Cassandra, watching where Rose was, hoping to see Raven somewhere, feeling his heart flutter in his chest as he searched in the unfamiliar faces for the blue eyes that always left him speechless.

\- "What?"

\- "Nothing..." - He stood up - "See you later, Sandsmark..."

\- "But Dam-" Damian turned to where he had seen the silver hair swaying, leaving Cassandra talking to himself on his back as he walked towards Rose, each step feeling his chest sink and mix with his stomach. _Oh gods, don't make him throw up now_ \- "Wilson..." - Damian growled, nudging Rose's arm making her turn to him

\- "Oh..." - She staggered and looked at Damian standing in front of her - "It's just you, little asshole... The party was cool"

\- "What?" He grimaced and then rolled his eyes. He didn't care about Rose offending him, she usually did that to everyone. He needed to know if Raven was there... His heart was beating painfully against his chest, trying to find the girl somewhere near Rose and finding nothing but figures of friends from Tim's college.

\- "What you want?"

\- "Raven..." - He answered quickly

\- "No fucking way..." - Rose closed her eyes and took the second glass - "I won't tell you where the bird is..."

\- "She is here? She came? Shit..."

\- "Do you think I would leave my friend alone for the new year?" - She raised an eyebrow - "Of course she came..." - Damian felt his breath catch in his throat - "But forget it, she doesn't want to talk to you..."

\- "Wilson..."

\- "No, Damian..."

\- "I need to talk to her..."

\- "No, Damian..." - She rolled her eyes - "I already said on the phone and I'll tell you in person, she doesn't want to talk to you... And after the shit you did, I shouldn't be talking to you either... I should be throwing you pane down..."

\- "That I did?"

\- "Don't play the innocent puppy, Damian..." - She rolled her eyes - "I really believed it when you said you were a virgin..."

\- "Look... This conversation is not making sense and honestly, I don't want to talk to you right now... I need to talk to Raven, I need to understand what's going on and why you just closed the door of yours fucking life in my face... I deserve this"

\- "You deserve a punch in the face, Damian... Forget her, go play with all your tanned blondes from Gotham high society... I won't tell you where she is, neither her phone, nor the fuck where she live.. Do not insist..."

\- "Damn it, Rose! Fuck you" - He practically screamed, the sound of his voice muffled by the music - "I-I'm going crazy..." - He took a deep breath trying to compose himself again, running his hand through his hair - "I know I'm the biggest stupid and asshole that someone can be and that people hate me most of the time, but that they always approach me because of something... I know... But... Raven hates me and I don't even know why and I-I need her to tell me what I did to make her like this..." - Rose took a deep breath - "You don't understand, she was the only one to see me not just as a damn name or as figures in a bank account... And I-I don't want to miss it for a reason I don't know what it is... Rose... I don't... I don't... I don't want to miss her... I _**love**_ her" - Rose's mouth made an _**O**_ for a few seconds and then she closed again, drinking the contents of the second as at once.

\- "Look... Fine... Fuck it... Fine" - She took a deep breath - "She came with me... But I don't know where she is... We stayed together for about 20 minutes and then, she said she didn't need a babysitter and would keep an eye on where I was... I haven't seen her since..." - Rose looked around - "Oh... Look at her over there! Oh... Is she accompanied by a boy? This girl is so lucky... And oh Jesus, he looks like a closet ... And if she's smart enough, she takes him home..." - Rose pointed to where there was a crowd of people leaning against a bench where Raven held a glass in both hands, sitting on a bench while talking to a boy maybe a few inches taller than she.

Damian kept his eyes on where Rose was pointing, feeling his heart tighten and turn in his chest when he saw that in that little light, she still looked beautiful, in a silver bib and a leather jacket over her shoulders.

It was strange to see her after 3 days without even hearing the sound of her voice and Damian found himself watching her as an admirer observes his favorite art. He found himself loving the way her pale hands closed around the red cup and how attentive and focused she was on what the boy next to her was saying. Damian found himself loving every bit of the image she had, seeming to illuminate all around her with a light that was hers alone...

He had the feeling that he could kneel and worship as something sacred and holy.

Damian felt possessive about that image and that it shouldn't be shared with anyone else, especially with the person talking to her. His hands fisted, even though he knew it was a wild and unreasonable feeling.

Conner Kent was known to Damian as former Superboy, the clone... Ex boyfriend of Tim Drake and also, ex teammate.

Coming from an unethical experience of Lex Luthor's companies, Conner was a clone of Clark Kent, Superman to those closest to him. When Clark learned of Conner's existence, he tried to pose him as his son, not giving many explanations to anyone who asked. Conner was currently dating Cassandra Sandsmark, but Damian knew the flirtation fame that clone had and knew that Raven's beauty wouldn't go unnoticed by anyone at that party... Especially for Conner.

Damian felt the air inflate in his lungs and let it out slowly, his feet finally moving towards both of them only to be pulled by Rose again.

\- "Hey... Calm down, Mr. Darcy..." - She mumbled blocking his way

\- "Wilson, let me go..."

\- "You won't fuck her heart again..."

\- "What?" - Damian grimaced without understanding - "Wilson, I just want to talk to her! I just want to understand the shit I did to deserve this wall of indifference... Why are you treating me like this? Why did you call me an asshole?" - Rose took a deep breath

\- "Look... I told her you both needed to talk, okay? But she didn't want to and look... Raven is a damn proud hardhead when she puts something on her head and forbade Tara and me to give her her address... She said she would talk to you because she knew she was being ridiculous in just disappear, but she wanted to do this when she was ready for it..."

\- "Rose... I don't understand..."

\- "You gotta be kidding me, Damian..." - Rose grunted and then took a deep breath rolling her eyes - "Okay, go talk to her and please stop calling... I couldn't stand seeing her looking at the phone as if he was going to die if he answered... But..." - Rose squeezed and took Damian's hand, squeezing it with a strength that Damian didn't know Rose could have while her voice became dark - "Play with her heart again and I will make you lose your dick..." - Damian growled low, letting go of his arm as he tried to walk away from Rose while repetead what she had said im his mind. Rose didn't stop him again, but he could feel the look of the silver-haired girl on his back. He could feel that she would kill him if he dared to say something that would make Raven sad...

Damian almost rolled his eyes, he had a feeling he didn't want to know for sure why Raven was angry with him... Part of him didn't want to know that he had hurt his only true friend after months of meeting the person she was... He felt he couldn't stand the thought of hurting her now that he was feeling like a stupid teenager for the first time... No, he definitely didn't want to hurt the one girl who made him feel something so good and pure in his entire life.

\- "Kent..." Damian said between his teeth as he approached the two and noticed Raven not looking at him. She looked everywhere in the room except for Damian. - "Raven..."

\- "Oh... speaking of the devil..." - Conner grunted smiling, looking at Damian standing in front of them with a face of few friends - "How are you, Damian?"

\- "Well... Not thanks to you..." - Damian grunted

\- "If I knew you two would be here, I had brought the little boy from the farm too..." - Damian rolled his eyes - "The poor guy will spend the New Year seeing the chickens in the barn probably... You know how he likes stay in that barn..."

\- "Hm..." - Damian wet his lips and looked at Raven, hoping he didn't look as needy and desperate as he really was - "You can go now, Kent... I... I need to talk to _Roth_..."

\- "Well, I don't think she asked me to leave here..."

\- "I can't imagine anything I need to talk to you about that needs to be a state secret, _Wayne_..."

\- "Raven..."

\- "You heard the girl, Goblin... Go away..." - Conner grunted smiling and Damian closed his hands in fists, controlling himself not to punch Conner in the face.

\- "Don't tease me, you stupid clone..." - Damian growled, the sound of his voice low and dark - She is mine l-friend... She is much younger than you... This is still a crime... And I don't I give a fuck that you fucked my brother if I need to throw you in a cell for getting involved with a minor"

\- "I'm almost 18..." - Raven grunted rolling his eyes as he put the glass on the counter - "And I don't need you to defend me, Damian... You're not a super hero and I'm not a damsel in distress..."

\- "Isn't he a super hero?" - Conner looked at Raven and then at Damian - "Interesting... It reminds me of a very interesting story, Raven... Do you know how Jon and Damian met? They had a te-"

\- "Shut up..." - Damian growled between his teeth taking a step towards Conner only to have Raven enter between the two

\- "No... You will not fight who has the biggest dick, here... No way..." - She turned to Damian - "Please, can you talk civilly..."

\- "I don't want to talk to a clone..." - Damian spat - "I want to talk to you... _Alone_..." - Raven took a deep breath and looked at Rose pretending not to pay attention on the other side of the dancefloor and then looked at Damian and for Conner.

She could see that Conner was ready to take Damian's reason. Raven had said everything to this complete stranger, had told about the tanned blonde on top of him, about the shared kisses when she didn't even know that everything she felt for that complete idiot in front of her and Conner just listened in silence. Raven listened carefully to him saying that he deeply doubted that Damian really had a girlfriend, but that it wouldn't be a surprise either...

He even gave a loud laugh when Raven said the girl's name, but like Rose, Conner said she urgently needed to talk to Damian and clear up a few things before she regretted something... She even saw him look at Tim when he said that.

Raven knew of the boy's brief and infamous relationship with her and Damian's brother... She remembered the hours of weekend teasing she spent at the Gotham mansion. She knew he was just stretching out the tease to him and from what she knew of Damian, his patience was as thin as a sheet of paper...

He was going to punch Conner if that provocation continued.

\- "Okay, all right..." - Raven grunted turning to Damian, looking directly at his face while trying to silence the storm that was forming in his eardrums. He was so handsome that it hurt to look at him. It hurt to look at how his skin contrasted with his green eyes like polished emeralds. It hurt to look at the very unruly little strands of hair that insisted on wanting to stay out of his bun...

Gods, she felt every part of her body burn and hurt when she watched the small scar near his lip move when he pursed his lip or when he smiled. It hurt every inch of her to see it and not be able to touch it, not be able to have it for her.

She needed to get this over with, she needed to push a stone in those feelings and she knew that she would only be able to silence them once and for all if she just pushed out of it. She needed to make him see that because he played with her heart while he kissed her and said that he would die if he didn't kiss her and that now, she would no longer be able to stand beside him seeing him giving another woman the smiles that she thought were just for her.

She needed to pull it out of her chest like an old bandage... _It would be painful but... Necessary_.

\- "Okay?"

\- "Okay?"

\- "Okay..." - She grunted trying to look indifferent - "You want to talk, fine... Let's solve this all for once..." - She turned to Conner - "It was a pleasure meeting you, Conner... But I can solve my own shit... Send Jon a kiss for me"

Damian opened his mouth and closed it again, seeming to try to find the right words to continue the conversation and finding none. Raven grimaced and crossed her arms, signaling for them to go up to the terrace by the time, it wouldn't be long before people started screaming and congratulating and counting down, the only place they would have peace would be those brief moments before a rain of fireworks.

He followed her in silence and Raven felt as if all the eyes of the party were on her, which she didn't doubt either. The little prince of the Wayne empire getting involved in a little argument and going out to an empty place with a girl? Surely the gossip of the month.

Raven took a deep breath two or three times when they went up the stairs, the wind was strong and she tried to ignore the sound of her own heart almost coming out of her own chest.

_It was so painful..._

She was shivering, but it wasn't from the cold. She should have been a coward, she should have told him that she didn't want to talk to him, she should have left like a sick dog when she saw him with Cassie...

Now, all her courage had drained from her fingers and she was trying her best to not collapse on the floor... Oh gods, she was **SO** pathetic...

\- "Raven..." - His voice sounded somewhere in her mind and she felt weak, unprotected and exposed. She had spent 3 whole days avoiding that and there he was with his messy hair and his eyes that seemed to want to drown her in a mysterious sea of emeralds and gold - "Look at me..."

\- "What do you want to talk about, Damian..."

\- "Look at me... I don't want to say that to your back... I want you to look at me..."

\- "You are an ass..." She mumbled, spinning on her heels as she stuffs her sweaty hands into her jacket pocket... No, he didn't need to know that she was doing her best to look like something she wasn't.

She took a deep breath, counting slowly to 10, calming the sound she heard in the back of her mind, threatening to break. This nervousness wasn't good, it was never good...

\- "What happened?"

\- "I don't know what you're talking about..."

\- "What happened, Raven?" - He had a raised eyebrow - "Why did you push me out of your life? Why did you leave and why didn't you answer my calls?"

\- "I..." - Gods, her pride would still kill her... All the courage she dared to have before now was just rubble in her heart - "I needed some time..."

\- "Time? Time for what?"

\- "Yes, Damian..." - She took a deep breath - "A while... I needed to weigh my life and... I needed to see where you fit in..."

\- "Oh... Wow..." - He muttered staggering - "_Where did I fit in_..."

\- "Don't talk like that..." - She rolled her eyes - "It's not as bad as you make it sound..."

\- "Oh... Of course it isn't that bad" - He grunted wryly - "Do I have to fill out a form to enter the waiting list?"

\- "Oh... Cool, you'll be ironic now... Don't be childish, Damian..."

\- "Well... You started like this..." - Damian spat - "You could at least have replied a damn message saying _'oh, hey Damian... I don't have time for your damn friendship, but I'll leave you on a waiting list'... _"

\- "Are you asking me sincerity, Damian...? You? You who hide all your things from someone who claims to be your friend?"

\- "What?"

\- "Yes... You're asking me for sincerity but you didn't have the decency to tell me about your fucking feelings or the fact that you love someone... And that you had someone... You kissed me and there was someone, that's ridiculous and disgusting... I'm not your fucking toy, Damian..." - Damian opened his mouth and closed it again, letting the air out of his nostrils... For a brief moment, he thought Raven had referred to the fact that he hadn't told her about being Robin and had lied to her in the pool about not knowing Robin and then something weighed on his mind... 

_What was she talking about? Why was she saying about liking someone? He liked her, he had told her that and yet..._

\- "What?"

\- "Fuck you, _Wayne_... Put your fucking hypocrisy aside and don't come and ask me to _'be honest'_ with you when you were kissing me and making me believe that I was someone special to you and having someone else... I am being honest to you, Damian... I've always been..." - Raven growled irritably, pointing her index finger at him.

How dare he demand her sincerity when he fed her feelings and then just pushed them straight into the tartar while rolling on a carpeted floor with a _Miss 'I'm blonde and my boobs are big'?_

Somewhere, someone screamed that the countdown would begin and somewhere in the city, lonely fires were starting to light up the sky. Raven wanted to throw herself up there, she didn't believe she would enter the year arguing with someone who refused to open up to her.

_10..._

Damian looked at Raven, incredulous about what he was hearing. Was Raven saying he was hiding things from her? That he wasn't sincere with her and that he wasn't open with her? And the damn night when he declared himself to her?

_9..._

\- "Do you think I don't trust you? That I am hiding things from you? Are you crazy? Are you fucking out of your mine? I didn't hide anything from you!"

\- "Then why did you hide that you're in love with someone? Why didn't you tell me that before all those times we kissed or when you made me believe? You are ridiculous, Damian Wayne... Like any other boy from that damn school..."

_8..._

\- "You gotta be kidding me..." - Damian laughed wryly - "Are you telling me that I lied you? I never lied about my feelings you, Raven... Quite the contrary..." - He felt his heart like thunder in his ear but he couldn't stop anymore, she was accusing him of things he hadn't done as if he never had if declared for her.

She who had spent those entire weeks not telling him anything about liking someone and then, for no plausible reason, tried to push him out

\- "So, how long have you been with her?"

\- "Her?"

\- "Cassandra... How long have you been with Cassandra? Did you tell me you would die if you didn't kiss me and you were with her?"

_7_...

\- "Do you think I'm with Cassandra?"

\- "Oh spare me the _'we have nothing serious'_..." - Raven grunted rolling her eyes

\- "You can only be really kidding me... Damn it, Raven... Do you even know me?"

\- "You're one more rich boy, Damian... And I should have realized that before I got into this stupid hot mess..."

_6..._

Damian looked at Raven in disbelief, seeing how her eyes filled and announced to overflow. Her lips were trembling and she seemed to be doing her best to keep her world from collapsing. Damian felt a great urge to want to run up to her and kiss her, but he knew he couldn't do that, especially when she took a step back when he tried to approach her.

\- "But I have nothing to do with her... For God's sake, she's Conner's girlfriend!" - Damian opened his arms to the air - "And she's older than me, please!"

\- "Oh since when did that stop something?" - Raven rolled her eyes - "Look at Rose..."

\- "Are you really comparing me to Rose?" - Damian's eyebrows arched, the disbelief in his voice filling the space between them - "You definitely don't know me!"

\- "Well... Cassandra was sitting on top of you..."

\- "It was damn training, Raven... For God's sake..." - He growled now really annoyed

_5..._

\- "How was I supposed to guess?" - She grunted, as angry as the day she met Damian and Cassandra at the gym. Feeling the poison she had been holding since the moment she saw them sitting on the couch spilling into her words - "She was sitting on top of you..."

\- "Oh... Maybe if I had paid the damn attention to what she held..." - Damian crossed his arms - "It's not like I don't have a wooden sword against my neck..."

\- "You didn't seem too bothered by that..."

\- "Why does that make you so angry? Why does having someone make you want to push me out of your life? Why does it affect you so much that I have someone?"

\- "Don't be so convinced... it doesn't affect me at all..."

\- "So why do you think you should _‘think of my place in your life’_ after you saw Cassandra in damn training with me? You always get angry... You always get irritated when I'm talking to Emiko and I don't even know why you get like this..."

\- "It doesn't make me angry! I don't give a damn if you decide to fuck every girl in this damn city" - _Lie_ \- "After you kiss me like that and then a girl appears on top of you... I have a right to think you were kidding me..."

\- "Are you listening to yourself?"

\- "Damian I don't care about that... I'm just making it clear that I don't give a shit because you're a bloody Wayne... I don't care about that..."

\- "You do..." - He returned - "If you didn't care, you weren't hitting that key again..."

_4..._

Raven bit the inside of her cheek, feeling her pride fill her and make her search desperately for a reason to explain it all. He was winning an argument and she was feeling stupidly embarrassed for jumping to conclusions about him.

She didn't want to feel that way... She had her own convictions and she defended them, Damian had also given her many reasons to think that.

He had also been trying to push her out of his life when they returned from the weekend at the mansion... He had also done the same to her.

Raven filled her chest with a confidence that she knew was the last one left for her at that moment. He couldn't just throw at her how stupid she had been to jump to conclusions when he treated her as dry as the week they went back to school after the weekend they spent together in Gotham.

\- "Stop being ridiculous... You've been acting weird since the weekend in Gotham, Damian... Don't pretend like it's just me!"

\- "Weird?" - Damian almost exploded

\- "Yes... Since that weekend you closed yourself off and for a whole week it was like you were trying to push me out too... When you seemed to give up pushing me out, I thought maybe you were just worried about the school tests and then, I saw you with Cassandra and just put the pieces together..."

\- "Are you really going to pretend you don't know why I stayed away, Raven?"

\- "I'm not pretending... I really didn't understand what happened... I... I had fun that weekend but, you became cold, monosyllabic, sometimes, you spent hours just angry... So Christmas came and you were sweet again and I thought you were worried about something and it wasn't something I did... But after I saw you and Cassandra I just understood that maybe I should get out of the way... That you were trying to get me out of your way... I was stupid, I know..." - She grunted putting her hands over her eyes - "I... I should have talked to you first... I should have said what it was happening to you as a decent person, but... I needed some time for that... And I didn't want to see you that way and treat me that way..."

\- "Raven... Why do you think I wanted to get you out of the way?"- Damian took a deep breath, trying to stay calm - "I wasn't angry with you... I could never be angry with you... I was angry with myself..."

_3..._

Raven looked up to meet Damian's, what was he saying? Why was he mad at himself? Why did he say he could never be mad at her? Damian took a step forward, unsure of his movement as he approached her. Raven noticed him swallowing and looking away before looking at her again.

\- "Why were you mad at yourself, Damian?"

\- "Okay... I... I don't know why you're acting like you don't understand... Not after what I did at the mansion... But..." - He took a deep breath - "I was jealous of you, Raven... I was angry at myself for feeling jealous of you and for thinking that one day you could look at me as I look at you... I was angry because I was taught my whole life that these things that I was feeling for you were useless and I should be ashamed to feel them..." - He licked his lips - "I hated myself for allowing myself to think that someone like you would feel something for someone like me..."

Raven blinked a few times, trying not to jump to hasty conclusions about what he was talking about. She didn't want to think he was saying he liked her only to find out it wasn't that... She had already broken her heart sometimes enough, she didn't want to break it again. At the same moment, some fireworks of all colors began to color the sky above them and illuminate the faces of both young as they felt a heavy silence fall between them.

_2..._

\- "What are you saying Damian...?" - Raven almost whispered not knowing if he had heard what she had said, but feeling every word weigh in his heart. It was as if inside her stomach there were millions of butterflies in profusion and her heart was pounding heavily against her ribs, seeming to be twice as big - "What do you mean by _'feeling'_...?

Damian looked up, his eyes fixed on a firework that burst right over them, painting his face and eyes a gold that promised many things and nothing at the same time. Raven noticed that he was breathing heavily and his hands were fisted, as if he were fighting something internally.

As if it hurt to admit what he needed to say.

\- "What do I mean by _'feeling'_? - He took a deep breath, his green eyes bright even in that place with so little light landing on Raven's, flooding her with something she couldn't even describe where she came from, she felt sincerity only in the weight of his words when they arrived in her ear at the same time the clock showed at 11:59 pm - "Exactly what I mean, Raven..." - He took a deep breath, listening to the fires rising behind him but not paying much attention to them - "That I was angry with me for thinking that someone like you would like me... That I would be worthy of something like your feelings and that I had been stupid enough to notice that I cultivated those feelings when you already liked someone... - He breathed heavily, licking his lower lip before speaking again - "I was angry with myself for being jealous of you..."

_Oh_

\- "... Jealous..."

_1..._

\- "What I mean, Raven is that I... have feelings for you ..."

\- "Are you saying that..."

_0_

\- "That's exactly what I'm saying, Raven... I like... No, I love you..."


	24. Chapter 24

\- "I like... No... I love you..."

Raven took a deep breath trying to get the ground under her feet to stop spinning, Damian's words repeating over and over in her head as she tried to find her voice within herself...

Did Damian like her? Had he said he loved her? This for some reason didn't seem to make sense in her head ... Why would he like her? Maybe she was listening wrong, the deafening sound of fireworks rising above her.

\- "You said you love me?"

\- "Yes..." - Damian grunted embarrassed, looking at the fires exploding behind her as he felt as if he had lifted a weight from his back - "I said I love you..." - He took a defeated deep breath and put his hands on his face. He honestly couldn't admit twice in the same night that he loved someone... Expressing his feelings was something he had not been trained to do

_Once it had been embarrassing enough._

\- "..."

\- "I have had feelings for you forever and I have been dealing with them since that night at the Queen's pool, when I kissed you..." - He took a deep breath - "I tried to ignore them all this time, I tried to choke them, I tried to deny their existence..." - Raven noticed Damian swallow hard, his cheeks get a reddish tone as his voice got choked up - "I try to act like I don't have the kind of... _War_ going on in my chest because I know you're too good for me and I was afraid of losing you... Oh gods, I don't like to admit that I was afraid..." - He let the air out slowly - "I'm an idiot for feeling this whole thing, but... I love you, Raven... I hate to admit my weaknesses but, I can't keep it anymore..."

Raven staggered a little looking at the pool and then looked at him again, trying to find something to tell her that it was all a lie or that he was saying he loved her as a friend but all she found was a sincerity that left her dizzy and confused and emeralds looking at her as if expecting some other answer

_She liked him and was reciprocal... Was she dreaming?_

He took a deep breath and walked towards her, invading her personal space looking unsure of his action and holding her hands as he slid the tip of his thumb over the back of her hands. It was so loving and simple, as if in the slightest sudden movement it would break. Raven watched him take another deep breath and give her hand a little squeeze.

\- "Oh fuck..." - Raven managed to grunt after an awkward period between them, biting the inside of her cheek to try to have some control over herself. Somewhere in the distance she could hear people shouting and congratulating each other for the coming of the new year, but she honestly didn't give a damn... Not when Damian said he liked her as much as she liked him.

All that time when they were like a cat and dog just fitting together like a perfect puzzle. 

\- "I... I know I shouldn't say that to you..." - Raven looked at him, what the fuck was he talking about? - "I know you like someone else and that you already made that clear to me... I swear I tried to pretend that these feelings didn't even exist but... I can't keep any more..."

\- "Why are you saying this?"

\- "Because it hurts to keep it all night and think that I will never have the opportunity to say it in front of you... And I-"

\- "No..." - Raven shook her head slightly with his eyes closed - "Why are you saying that I like someone else?"

\- "Erm..." - He licked his lower lip, averting his eyes from hers. Wait... Didn't she really know it was him that night at the mansion? - "You... You are easy to read... Wait... Don't you remember what happened at the mansion?"

\- "Before or after you become an asshole again?"

\- "Erm..." - Damian took a deep breath - "Wait... Forget it..." - He closed his eyes... _Oh gods, he felt stupid..._ She definitely didn't know it was him that night - "I... I deduced that you liked someone... You had the... the symptoms..."

\- "Symptoms?" - She gave a light laugh, it was good to hear the sound of her laugh again, Damian felt like it had been ages since he heard that sound last - "Damian... Liking someone is not a disease to have symptoms..."

\- "Well... For me it's equivalent to a disease... I can't eat anymore, I can't sleep... I get breathless around you and I feel anxious, I feel sick and I feel like I'm going to vomit the any time I'm around you and I needed to check up with Pennyworth to see if I had some heart problem because every damn time you entered the room, I needed to calm my heart before it came out of my mouth..." - Damian smirked - "Anyway..." - He rocked on his heels, feeling the weight of his feelings kept get off his back... God, it was like he could fly - "I... I assumed you had some romantic interest in someone and the idea of seeing you with someone else hurt more than being cut into pieces by a sword and I know, Raven... I know that I should keep these things to myself and that what I said will probably ruin our friendship but I don't want to keep it..."

\- "I... I really like someone, Damian... And I... I'm a little dizzy with what you said because there is a lot of information that I need to process and digest... I... I never imagined that you liked me... And god..." - She shook her head with her eyes closed - "Whatever I drank in that red cup was strong enough to make things come out of my mouth without my controlling it... Oh fuck..."

\- "I understand..." - Damian grunted feeling a twinge in his chest. He felt like he was reliving the night at the mansion again and again as he heard something break again from inside him. But he took the risks when he told her that he loved her, he took the risks by liking her and he should be prepared for it - "And... I think I'll be fine I just... I just needed to take it from me and-"

\- "Shut up Damian..." - She muttered interrupting him - "Shut up and stop jumping to conclusions again..."

\- "What?"

\- "Stop jumping to conclusions..." - Raven said firmly, her serious eyes locked on Damian's that seemed confused by the courage she had - "You are right, I... I noticed that I like this person much more than I do I wanted to like it, too..." - She let go of his hands and started walking by the pool, not paying attention to what was really happening. The fireworks started to subside and the music everywhere filled the space again, but Raven didn't care... No, she definitely didn't care when all she wanted to do was tell Damian that she liked him so much how much he liked her... Gods her head was racing over and over again saying he loved her.

_She really wanted him to kiss her at once_

\- "I am... I am happy..."

\- "But... I... I was too hasty... I... I came to tell him what I felt and ended up understanding a lot more shit..." - Raven grunted about 5 steps away from him - "I should have said it the night I knew I really had feelings for someone I thought I hated... I should have run up to him that night, even though he was an asshole and tried his best to push me out while saying 'I was going to the training room', I should just punch him in the face now for being such an idiot and think I would hide that I like someone being him one of my best friends..."

\- "Wh-What are you saying?"

\- "What I wanted to say before, Damian... That I like an enemy that became my friend and that despite being the biggest irritating and petty boy in that school, if I wanted to invade another pool in the middle of the night, it had to be with him, because only he would make me feel safe and protected... I like a boy who is one of the few I trust in this whole world" - She turned slowly to him, her eyes shining blue behind her thick lashes - "I should say that I like the idiot he is completely and how stupid he is when his brothers make fun of him and that I love how mysterious he can be..."

\- "You-"

\- "Kiss me..." - Raven grunted looking at her hands

\- "What?"

\- "I said _'kiss me'_, Damian..." - Raven repeated, more firmly than the first time as she found his greenish emeralds looking at her with a mix of confusion and excitement - "You are right, I like someone... And that someone is you... And I like you, you idiot, as much as you like me... Kiss me because I need proof that this is real and no longer a strange dream where you say you like me..."

Damian opened his mouth, completely forgetting what he had to say, his eyebrows coming together as one in confusion. For an instant Damian pinched his arm, trying to prove to himself that it wasn't a dream, either. _Did Raven like him? Had she really talked about him that night? How did he not realize it was him?_

Again, he acted on impulse, without thinking of all the signs... Gods, he felt stupid. Was that the kind of detective he wanted to be to take his father's place? He didn't see that anyone liked him in front of him.

Everyone was right... _**He was an idiot**_

Jason Todd wouldn't let him out of this alive.

Damian almost hit himself in the face, gods, Jason was right all along... That was a lot to say.He had learned all his life that no one would love him and at times he did not feel worthy of that he never even let his heart have the least hope... No, hopes were for fools and so he almost missed the opportunity to open up a new world of feelings with a girl as incredible and beautiful as Raven.

Damian shook his head and swallowed looking at her there, standing in front of him, her face still lit by fireworks still rising above them, glorious in her silver dress, black stocking, leather jacket and a small boot, 5 steps away from him. He didn't know if one day, he would be able to look at her without losing his breath. She was so beautiful...

_And she wanted **him**..._

Damian's eyes meet hers and reason hit Damian's head like a ship's anchor. She was asking him to kiss her and he was there, like a complete idiot drooling over her. He couldn't help but drool over her, gods, she was the most beautiful girl he had seen in his miserable 17 years. She smiled shyly and brightly, biting her lower lip as she nodded at him, answering any question in his head that he was unable to verbalize and Damian completely lost his reason.

He walked over to her, turning the 5 distance steps between them into 3 and kissed her at the same moment that two fireworks went up to the sky, coloring them in gold. Raven's hands went to Damian's neck and slid into his hair, closing the distance between them and getting lost in the strands of his long hair. Damian held Raven's waist gently and with the other hand, he held her jaw, his thumb caressing Raven's cheek, then sliding down the back of her neck, taking a handful of hair and messing it up trying to pull her closer to him, while he tried to taste as much of her lips as he could to capture every inch of the taste of chamomile and lavender tea that her lips had, even with the taste of the fruit punch she probably drank.

Gods, Damian didn't know he could feel floating because of someone but it was how he felt at that moment. He felt every little thing in the universe and he felt nothing at the same time. His heart was beating so fast and it seemed so big to fit in his chest that he even thought he was going to die at any moment and he was happy to leave like that.

But he preferred to stay alive to kiss her other times after that kiss.

After a pretty awkward time, they had to break the kiss and look for air. Damian left his forehead against hers, watching as she slowly opened her eyes and smiled, the big blue orbits showing a constellation that Damian wanted to discover. Her smile made his heart miss a beat and made Damian weak. He didn't like to feel weak, but he wouldn't think it was bad if the reason was that Raven smile that could light up the whole of San Francisco.

_Gods he was sounding like Dick Grayson and he honestly didn't think that was a compliment._

\- "So..." - Raven growled softly, still with her forehead pressed against Damian's, his hands were now on her waist and for the first time, Damian didn't know what to really do after all this.

What should he say? Kneel and ask her to date him? Run and tell everyone you liked her? Buy a commitment ring? ask permission from her uncles so he could date her? He honestly didn't know and had forgotten to ask his brothers before...

Not that he expected any good advice from the 3 heads of wind

\- "So..." - Damian managed to answer after sighing - "Happy New Year, _Roth_..." - He smiled and Raven rolled his eyes, pulling him for another quick kiss.

\- "Happy New Year, _Wayne_..." - She grunted hugging him, wrapping her arms around Damian's neck while standing on tiptoe to hide her face on his shoulder. His arms tightened around Raven's waist, lifting her off the floor a few inches and earning her a muffled squeak.

She looked so happy, Damian would keep it forever in his memory... The day he made someone he really cared about happy... It was new sensations he didn't know being born in his chest and before, he would be worried but, now the only thing he cared about was her eyes shining like the stars above them.

\- "Hm... Real enough for you?" - He raised his eyebrow

\- "I... I will need some more evidence to prove that this is not some kind of dream..." - Raven licked her bottom lip, looking up at him - "If you want, of course..."

\- "We can continue this study until you are sure..." - He grimaced and then smiled - "I am always open to contribute to discoveries of science and... I honestly see no problem in kissing you again..."

\- "Idiot..." - Raven laughed, rolling her eyes - "So... Do you... Do you like me?"

\- "I like you..." - He smiled - "And you like me...? Oh really?"

\- "It's contagious..." - She grunted laughing - "All those girls melting in your ear when you pass in the hall... It's like a disease..."

\- "I told you I was symptomatic..."

\- "Again... Idiot..." - She grunted laughing before Damian bent to kiss her again, feeling like an addict to the taste of chamomile tea that her lips had - "So..." - She took a deep breath inhaling the smell of cinnamon that came from Damian, her heart seemed to float and pound in her chest and she didn't even know if that was scientifically possible - "What do we do now?"

\- "I want to date you, Raven... As serious couples do" - He took a deep breath - "I want to do things that couples do, you know... Stupid things... We can go out to dinner and stuff, I want to meet your family and let you come spend weekends with my family in Gotham... I want to go to the cinema with you and hold your hand... All the stupid things a couple does... I never thought I would want that kind of thing with anyone , but I want with you..."

\- "Erm..." - She nodded - "Of course... I... I never dated anyone and to be honest nobody ever told me that they loved me but..."

\- "Me neither..." - Raven looked at him looking surprised - "What...?"

\- "Ahnn... Nothing..." - She laughed - "So... Just... We just started saying that we are dating and that's it?"

\- "If you want..." - He smiled and then saw her bite her lower lip, as she did when she wanted to say something and didn't know how to say it. Of course, Damian wanted to slap his forehead, he was going too fast again and to say that _'he wanted to do things that couples do with her'_ had a double connotation that he didn't think about initially - "Or..." - he took a deep breath - "We can take it slow if you you want..." - Damian ran his fingertips over Raven's cheek, feeling her lean toward his touch - "No labels or... Pressures..."

\- "I... I think we should go slow..." - Raven smiled shyly - "Try to find out how this whole thing works before we tell the others that we're dating or something and... Leave this between the two of us for now..." - Raven took a deep breath - "You know how people are going to comment and you know how things are going to be in high school and you're someone the newspapers run after and I saw how girls look when they see me with a competitor at that ball... I don't want to wake up with a can of paint falling on my head in high school or with Djinn chasing me everywhere and not even under the pressure of having paparazzi running through the thickets of my house..." - Raven took a deep breath - "You know how Djinn is your fan... I don't want any problems with her..."

\- "For God's sake, I don't want to talk about her... No... Not today, not now... I don't want to spoil the moment, please..." - He looked away, shaking his head while making a face that made Raven laughed and she didn't know if it was the fault of the fruit punch she drank or because she felt completely stupid at the time but, she found it adorable - "Keeping a relationship in secret?"

\- "Okay... No obsessed fan..." - Her lips formed a line before she smiled again rolling her eyes - "And answering your question, yes... I know it's difficult and that my friends are... A little indiscreet and keep secrets the same way they save money for college..."

\- "They don't keep..."

\- "That's the point, Damian..." - Raven smiled with a raised eyebrow -" Anyway... At least until this is something concrete and certain... We could only tell your family and Aunt Alice and-"

\- "No fucking way are we going to tell my family about this relationship..." - Damian growled - "Did you see how they acted that day? On the eve of the charity ball? Have you ever imagined what they will do? In half an hour the Gotham newspaper will be aware of this... In 2 days it will become world news... What we plan to keep secret will be trending topics on twitter in a matter of minutes if my brothers hear about us... No ... We will keep this hidden from them as much as we can hide..."

\- "Uhnn... Okay..." - Raven nodded slowly

\- "It will be difficult to keep it a secret staying all week at the same school... And with all this social networking thing... Besides the weekends in Gotham and..." - Raven stood on tiptoe and gave a light kiss on the corner of his lip, was he hyperventilating with the idea of having a girlfriend?

\- "We will find a way... We can just keep things as they are..." - She laughed - "You hate me in all classes and I refute you in all classes..."

\- "HAHA, cute..." - Damian grunted rolling his eyes - "So... This... Is this really happening? Are you kind of my _'secret girlfriend'_ and stuff?"

\- "Erm... Yes..." - Raven laughed - "Gods, I... Do I have a boyfriend?" - She grunted laughing and then looked incredulous at Damian - "And it's you! So whoever I said that I wouldn't have a relationship in a million years!"

\- "Checkmate, girl..." - He took a deep breath giving a smile before giving Raven a kiss on the forehead - "Hm... Hey... Are we going back to the party or...?" - Damian said with a grimace, pointing with his finger to the stairs.

\- "They may miss us and you know... Come to investigate and this whole plan to keep the relationship hidden from your family and my friends going down the drain... And..."

\- "I... I think we can stay here a little longer and discuss the... Terms..." - Damian pouted with his lips and Raven wanted to slap him, she was feeling too stupid to find everything what he did too adorable...

\- "If you're saying..." - She laughed - "I think Rose is too worried about chasing Tim to worry about whether I threw you up here or whatever, too..." - Raven smiled and shrugged, earning in return, a genuine smile from Damian as he gave Raven's waist a tight and gentle grip.

_Gods know how she melted with any of those little gestures he did._

She melted with even a smile that he gave her and now, it was all hers. Raven could hardly believe it.

Damian held her hand during that night almost as long as they could be together. They sat by the pool with their feet in the water, completely ignoring the people and the party going on downstairs, they didn't need that. They had everything they needed there, they had each other and it was enough.

Damian told Raven about when he realized he loved her that weekend at the mansion, how he felt like almost running into her room that night after they broke into the Queen's pool and told her everything... He told without mentioning being Robin how he felt when he thought she loved someone else because he never considered that she loved him back, about how he felt when he was with her, how anxiety almost made him lose his mind and that he threw up at once just because he felt like he was going to die just by having her so close and so far from him

Damian opened up to her as much as he could, trying to keep details about his past and who he was in Gotham away from the conversation and when he found himself walking towards it, he ended up commenting on the weeks when he just thought about her and how he felt crazy when she just disappeared from his sight and seeing how he suffered to say these things about his own feelings made Raven feel her chest tighten, she had no idea how she made him suffer in those days, she was thinking of her own pain of losing someone she had dared to love only once in her life.

But again, Damian ran his fingertips over Raven's face and said that she shouldn't worry about it because everything had already been taken care of and that he couldn't even believe that someone really liked him, not because of who he was or who he should be, but because he liked him whole.

_As a human being..._

Raven wondered how much he had spent as a child to think like that, a 17 year old teenager shouldn't see himself as something animalistic that he wasn't... Damian was acid and tough on the outside, but Raven managed to see the sweet part from the inside... She was happy to see him open to her like a flower blooming... She was happy to be someone who would teach him that he was more than a name or a bank account ... That he was more that those scars he carried and that she had no idea how he got it.

Strangely, Raven didn't hear the voices in her mind when he was there, with his arm wrapped around her back caressing the curve of her waist, his other hand, warm and welcoming even though full of calluses, resting quietly on her thigh, drawing circle patterns over her pale skin, his cinnamon tone contrasting with her porcelain tone, like Sun and Moon meeting in an eclipse. Raven had taken off her socks when they decided to sit by the pool and now they were folded up in the boot carefully placed next to the beach benches.

They just stood there talking about things, their feet dangling in the water, her head resting on his shoulder and looking to the starry sky of the new year that was just beginning... In other situations, she would be tense, those voices in her head would make her afraid of having someone male so close to her, she would have all the warning signs on and would do everything possible to push him away, she still felt tense but not as if she was afraid to be with him there... 

_She felt protected with him..._

Damian made her feel safe... Safe as she never felt with anyone after what happened at the fair. 

What an interesting way to enter a new year... Leaving old fears for the past. It was what she needed

It was around 3 am when Rose appeared at the top of the stairs a little staggering saying she needed to go home and Raven was forced to leave and leave Damian and the warmth of his arms and the conversations and laughter they had given in the last 3 hours.

They stayed there all that time and she hadn't felt like it was too much, there was so much she still wanted to know about him, about who he was, about the layers that he hid in his heart that were never shown... She would have to leave it for another time, they would have many from that day on and she knew it.

She would do her best to have more moments from that...

Raven said goodbye to Damian by giving him a quick kiss on the lips before stepping out carefully, carrying the boots in her hands and praying mentally that Rose was drunk enough not to notice what she had seen.

When they arrived at Raven's aunt's house, Rose barely took off her shoes and threw herself on the bed looking like she was dead and Raven couldn't even be angry about it, she was still humming softly as she remembered Damian's kisses, reliving each one in your mind. She could barely control the melodies coming out of her mouth.

\- "Okay..." - Rose grunted trying her best to turn around on the bed while Raven took the shoe off her feet - "What the fuck did you both decide?"

\- "Go to sleep Rose... You're saying something and nothing makes sense..."

\- "I'm drunk..." - She sobbed - "But... I'm not blind..."

\- "You're drunk, that explains a lot..."

\- "You guys are making out, right?" - Raven took a deep breath and licked her bottom lip - "No need to answer..." - Rose grunted, throwing her head against the pillows.

\- "I need..." - Raven grunted - "Because you are wrong, we are not... We are not doing anything... We just took time to talk and ended up discovering that I was making wrong assumptions about him and Cassandra..."

\- "And he kissed you..."

\- "No... - Raven turned on her back, looking for her own pajamas inside the closet, it was easier to lie without having to look at Rose - "We just... We're good friends..." - It wasn't a total lie... Raven thought, before they were that secret romance, they really were friends... 

_Raven trusted him enough to fall in love with him._

\- "Friends with benefits exist, Raven..."

\- "You have a very wrong idea of what Damian is like..." - Raven grunted, pulling on a sweatshirt, still feeling staggering when she noticed that her clothes smelled like Damian, she wanted to sleep hugged in that dress, the smell of cinnamon and expensive colonia made her feel light at the same time that her heart seemed to swell against her chest, but it was better not to give Rose anything else to say ...

As she said, Rose was drunk, _but not blind..._

\- "Then tell me how is Damian, Raven...?" - Rose propped herself up on her elbows - "Because for me, he is still a boy with a dick in the middle of his legs so... Despite being all like he was made of stone and he doesn't care about anyone besides him, he still has blood running through his veins... And he definitely wanted to eat you from top to bottom... Anyway, I have no doubt that he will jerk off today... Boys will always be boys ..."

\- "Rose..." - Raven growled throwing the pillow at her - "Shut up! Damian isn't like that... He's..." - Raven bit her lip, holding a sigh escaping her lips - "Different... I mean, he's a boy with... Yeah... What you said... But he's not like that... He... He is sweet and affectionate when no one is looking and... He has a need to prove himself and he thinks he is not worthy of the things he has..." - She took a deep breath, holding the dress in her hands, thinking of Damian's arms still around her. She could feel the weight of his hands around her - "And... He's one of the most amazing boys I've ever met..."

\- "Oh god..." - Rose grunted with an raised eyebrow - "You are stupidly in love with him..."

\- "Yeah... Maybe I am really in love with him..." - Raven took a deep breath reluctantly putting the dress in the laundry basket, thinking that she would lose the woody smell that came from Damian made her heart weigh... She wanted more clothes with his scent - "But we're just best friends okay? We put all our differences on the table and we will improve in relation to them..."

\- "Well... You will continue to deny that I didn't see how you were... And I am too drunk to discuss" - Rose murmured almost initiligible - "Just remember to have safe sex, okay?" - Raven took a deep breath and rolled her eyes - "When I'm not so dizzy and your house stops spinning like it's in the eye of a hurricane, we'll talk about it... Boys love asking for sex without a condom as proof of love but, believe me, you won't want a baby before you go to college..."

\- "Shut up, Rose..." - Raven muttered, jumping to the corner of the bed - "And go to sleep... If Aunt Alice arrives and you are murmuring in that drunken voice she will never let me go out with you again..."

\- "Your Aunt would have already forbidden me to go out with you at other times... She loves me, you know that..."

\- "I know..." - Raven smiled curled up lying on Rose's chest - "Hey... Thank you, okay?"

\- "For...?"

\- "Damian told me that you didn't want to let him get close to me... Said about how you did it and what you said... How you threatened him if he broke my heart... You are a great friend, Rose... A sister I never had... Remember that, okay?"

\- "Okay ... - Rose smiled strangely, her face buried in the pillow - "Now let's sleep, birdie... My head hurts from seeing your house spinning and spinning... In a little while we will stop in the land of Oz..."- "Okay... Good night, Rose... Happy new year..."

\- "Happy New Year, birdie..." - Rose grunted, falling asleep almost in the same second after. Raven took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she let sleep envelop her and take her back into Damian's arms.

Rose was right, she was stupidly in love with Damian... And she was more than happy to know that he was also for her...


	25. Chapter 25

Raven woke up with the phone ringing the other day, it looked like she had slept on top of a rock and her whole body ached, as far as it was impossible to hurt. Of course, sleeping next to Rose was tantamount to becoming a punching bag and Raven never understood how she could kick and punch so much while sleeping.

Rose wasn't lying on the bed, but she heard the sound of the bathroom in the hall and came to the conclusion that the hangover might be hitting her hard. Also, after drinking so much of those fruit ponches, it was a surprise that Raven wasn't hanging on the toilet next to her best friend too...

Raven stretched and looked at the ceiling, feeling under the pillow as she reached for the phone. It looked like she had dreamed that Damian had said he loved her, but ... Why did it look like it was all real? Raven swallowed a laugh when he finally reached the phone and his reason came back with the conclusion that it hadn't been a dream.

Damian loved her... He had said that more than once that night...

And he had asked to date her too, he said he wanted to do couple things with her... It wasn't a stupid dream like she had many times. He kissed her, he hugged her several times, he caressed her cheek, back, waist and thighs... She could still feel the ghost of his hot, callused hand against her skin and his soft lips against hers.

On her cell phone, Damian's name flashed, calling on a call and she felt herself floating, it was just after 10:00 am and he was already calling her... He was proving to be an unquestionable romantic guy... Especially after he heard Raven's voice on the other end of the phone.

Raven stifled a giggle when he asked if it was real or if he had fantasized it all... They both spent so much time forbidding themselves to feel things and fall in love with each other that it just seemed like everything was a strange shared dream ... If it was a dream she didn't want to wake up.

No, she really liked this version of Damian that was just hers and no one else's... Not even his family.

They spent more than an hour hanging on the phone, Rose rolling her eyes and murmuring her acid comments as she watched Raven bite her lip sitting at the window, telling her stupid things she was doing... Raven tried her best not to show they had something but she always melted when he said something on the other side and Rose saw how her eyes lit up when the doorbell rang, with a delivery man sending chamomile tea and pancakes for breakfast... _Courtesy of the Wayne companies_.

_Bullshit_...

Courtesy of her best friend's rich toy...

Raven almost melted with Damian's silly actions, he sent her just one red rose in the afternoon and called before going to sleep. It was small gestures that came from him that she knew, for some reason, that it was his way of expressing himself and showing that he liked her and that it was not just a dream and she learned to appreciate those small gestures even more when classes came back after school. Christmas break and they had to keep their relationship hidden from the curious eyes of everyone at school. Raven had a bigger problem when the classes came back, not only did Rose want to discover the truth but Tara also wanted to get the truth out of her at all costs and she ended up learning to lie so well, that she even surprised her. Raven was never a good liar, but she was learning.

Not that she thought Rose was believing that. Not after seeing her talking on the phone to Damian for so long that day.

They spent most of their time at school apart, even though they were so close. Damian lost count of how many times he got lost during an explanation in class looking at Raven, a few tables in front of him. She looked closely at the teacher of a subject that Damian didn't even bother to remember or that it was... He knew he would do well on any test, he had already learned that before with his mother and grandfather...

He could watch his secret girlfriend from afar, watch every detail of her, every time she pushed her hair behind her ear, or every time she sighed and smirked, without looking at him to know that he watches her or each time she licked her bottom lip.

Oh gods he wanted so much to kiss those pink lips ...

They established that at school, they would try to act as normal friends as they were before and Damian enjoyed when they sat together in the cafeteria and under the tables, they held each other's hands, making discreet caresses on the backs of their hands, but Damian was feeling like a addicted to total abstinence.

Three weeks had passed since the new year's party and he hadn't kissed Raven since that night. On the first weekend together, Rose ended up showing up and what was supposed to be a first date at the cinema ended up becoming an outing with friends and on the last weekend, Damian was called to Gotham and spent 3 days at more than 4,000 km away from Raven. Just having a phone to be able to talk to her in those days.

He was about to screw up and kiss her right there, each of the 15 times she bit her lower lip or licked her lips. _Gods he was being pathetic but he needed to kiss her_.

Damian blinked a few times, turning his attention back to class, the instant the teacher asked him about the value of pi...

Okay... Mathematics was the class...

\- "Mr Wayne...?" - The teacher asked again, his hand resting on his waist while looking at the boy with a raised eyebrow.

\- "The rounded value of pi is 3.14, sir..." - Damian grunted without looking at the teacher, sinking into the chair, trying to take his eyes off Raven and look as bored as he always was. Even though his mind was crazy just watching from the corner of his eye Raven holding a giggle looking at him. _Gods she didn't help him at all_.

The teacher seemed to be satisfied with Damian's answer and then went back to speaking writing something on the board, muttering to himself how much students like Damian were needed. Damian rolled his eyes at Raven still looking at him with a hushed smile and Rose looked at the two of them wanting them to stop whatever the gummy thing they were doing there was. She would have diabetes if they were making out and looking at each other as puppies.

Rose saw when Damian wrote a note and discreetly placed it under Raven's book while pretending to go throw a paper ball in the trash and Raven discreetly remove the note and read quickly, wrap the note and so discreetly nod that yes to Damian who was coming back to his chair. She knew they were both hiding something, but she wasn't sure what it was... She was always prevented from following Raven or they acted like nothing was happening and the gods and the devil knew how frustrated Rose was with that. But she would find out, one way or another Raven would misstep

She was a terrible liar and Rose knew her well enough to read the signs...

Raven took a deep breath, pushing the anxiety that threatened to eat at her after reading the note. It was just a sentence, but it made all the butterflies in his stomach go into profusion. _"Meet me in the hall after this class"_.

Gods knew how just that phrase made her hands stupidly tremble and her heart beat fast.

Adrenaline rushed through her veins and she couldn't control the urgency to look at the clock above the blackboard every 5 minutes, hoping that time would pass quickly enough.

She made mental theories of what that note could mean, Damian always surprised her with something she hadn't considered before in those three weeks that they were together. The first week he took her to the library just to arrange a date at the cinema that was ruined by Rose spending the whole day with Raven and the next time, he sent a text only when they met, he apologized for having to go back to Gotham that weekend but, giving her a very beautiful drawing as a gift he had made of her, dressed like New Year's Eve... This would be the third time he sent her a few words to make an appointment, and meeting him in the hall could be anything, and Raven honestly didn't know what to expect.

When the siren sounded, announcing the change of classes, Raven watched him loosen his tie as he walked by, giving one last nod with her head to follow him.

They walked in silence keeping a distance between them as they passed the crowded corridors, the courtyard with people sitting in groups of 3 reading books until they reached the lawn where the bleachers could be seen from afar. She recognized this path because they always sat there before, sharing peanut butter sandwiches and listening to music. There were almost no students at that time and the few who were weren't paying any attention to the couple passing by, so Damian took the opportunity to hold Raven's hand, fingers intertwining each other while Raven saw a small proud smile grow in his lips without him looking at her. They walked about 10 more steps before Damian changed direction and pulled Raven under the bleachers, where there was a varsity banner covering the entire view, if anyone passed by, they would see nothing but a huge sea lion drawn on the flag with the names of the school team.

\- "What do you w"- Before Raven finished saying, Damian's generous lips were already against hers, his hands resting calmly on Raven's waist who could only remember to put her arms around his neck, proving a satisfied smile that he could see Raven melting so easily in his hands. Her heart was like gelatin, and she was sure she could feel it reverberate with the thunder of the beat in each bone.

After considerably long minutes, but not long enough for Damian, they broke the kiss and Raven was happy that he was holding her while she staggered.

\- "I... I missed you..." - Damian grunted trying to catch the air again - "3 weeks! I needed to... kiss you..."

\- "Er... Hello...!" - Raven smiled trying to control her own heartbeat as she met his eyes, shining like a child's Christmas morning... She would never get tired of it, it was her only certainty. His finger gently touched her waist, sending a shiver down her spine and she had to control it so that her breath didn't become a sigh - "Hm... I-I missed you too..." - She smiled shyly, feeling her cheeks were warm to his touch, it was unreal to still hear those words coming out of her mouth and sometimes she even found herself wondering if all that was real...

Even after three weeks of hands clasped discreetly, exchanging looks full of secrets during classes and a drawing of her folded inside the diary that she kept locked inside a drawer at the head of her bed.

It seemed too unrealistic that Damian Wayne, the most wanted boy at that damn school, who could have any girl in town and who spent two years simply doing his best to irritate her and argued with her countless times had said he loved her under the rain of fireworks... It seemed more unreal even though she loved him back.

Raven slid her fingertip over Damian's jaw before his lips found hers again, taking her into a world of cinnamon and expensive cologne that she had strangely felt familiar with. It was her favorite world and she could do nothing but accept that her heart was a bird wanting to get out of the cage when she was with him.

Raven couldn't even care more that he was skipping class, as long as she could have him so open and sweet with her. Close to others, she could feel his barriers growing again only to be broken down the moment he looked at her. It was strange that she could feel it, but with Damian, she could almost see it, the way his features softened when he looked at her and how a crease grew between his eyebrows when Garfield made a comment trying to flirt with Raven for the thousandth time, as he let out his breath slowly, relaxing his shoulders when he secretly held her hand under the cafeteria tables.

She didn't mind missing a Biology I class or two when she could see the little things in him that only she could notice. Things that were hers alone.

\- "You are a bad news, _Wayne_..." - Raven grunted, sliding her fingertips through the long strands of his hair, curling the unruly strands that insisted on staying out of the bun on her pale fingers. They had been there for maybe an hour and a half or two hours and Damian had been lying on her lap no more than 20 minutes, interspersing soft kisses and laughter with telling stories about the weekend, Damian doing his best to get around the whole story of Robin, it was not yet time to talk about it and it would probably make her a source of concern... She didn't need it. He slid his fingertips in circles on the knees exposed by Raven's skirt, while trying to read Moby Dick carefully.

Damian looked up from the book quickly, a line of doubt growing between his eyebrows that made Raven laugh.

\- "Me...?"

\- "Yes..."

\- "And can I know why such an accusation, _Roth_?" - He closed the book, marking the page with a finger as he stood up, propping himself on his elbow, an agitated smile taking his cheeks.

\- "I missed the last two classes...!" - She laughed - "Biology I and History...! I never skipped class like this... Mainly to be with boys...!"

\- "Well..." - He grunted dragging himself like a snake, his arms pinning her like a cage against the floor and the place where she was leaning to reach her face again, placing butterfly kisses on her chin and jaw - "Maybe it's my plan..."

\- "Your... Fuck... Stop it, you're making me shiver!" - She grunted laughing as she shrunk with the shiver that ran down her spine at the feel of his hot, fresh breath against her ear - "Your plan?"

\- "Yes... Make you the second best student in the school for good... I am the best, this is indisputable, but... I need to eliminate the competition."

\- "In your dreams, _Wayne_..." - Raven smiled, eyes closed as he distributed the kisses around the corner of her lips - "I'm the best in the class, you're just a boy with above average confidence..."

\- "And your boyfriend..."

\- "An idiot who happens to be also my boyfriend... Second best in the class..." - She said laughing, seeing him look at her with his mouth open and a tone of surprise tinting his face. He closed his mouth again and what was confusion turned into a malicious smile. As if studying the possibilities of overthrowing Raven's argument, as if studying an enemy in combat.

\- "You will pay for this, _Roth_..." - He bit his lip, his hand slipping to her waist - "Nobody says that an Al Ghul Wayne is an idiot and the second best of anything..." - And before she could question what he was saying, Damian started tickling her waist and belly, making her squirm while stifling a laugh with one hand and pushing his chest weight off her with the other - "No mercy for you, Roth..."

\- "Hey..." - She grunted between laughter, trying to hold his hand while trying to push him off her or turn his weight against him. It was useless, he was heavy and his torso was making a huge effort to pin her waist under him, sliding across the floor in a position that would make her have a stiff neck later.

\- "Never call your boyfriend an idiot again, Roth..." - He grunted laughing happily after long 10 minutes of petting and Raven with tears in her eyes from laughing and shortness of breath.

\- "This is going to have... This is going to have a rematch..." - She grunted, completely lying on the grass, her hair splayed against the green, her pale skin contrasting with the sunlight shining through the cracks in the bleachers above them. She looked so fragile and so beautiful, her hair messy, her cheeks pink, her lips swollen that made Damian feel a twinge of pride in his chest and her pulse point accelerated in her neck. Damian wondered what it would be like to place a kiss there.

And at the same moment he pushed his mind to the silent bottom before he started to wander too much with her there, lying under him, her breath making her chest rise and fall unevenly. Her lips half open too inviting, her eyes too bright, her skin too soft. 

Suddenly, Damian felt _hungry_. He didn't notice that he was almost giving in to that urge and that hunger until he noticed that he licked his lower lip, wanting to taste _her_.

His imagination could travel very easily and he didn't plan to have accidents near her...

And he could feel the blood running all over his body, he didn't need that...

He didn't want to scare her or make her think he only thought about it when he was with her... It was embarrassing.

\- "Hm... This could be our place..." - He grunted looking away while getting up from her, picking up the book lying on the floor while trying to avoid thinking again, diverting attention to other things was the best way of not thinking about the signs in his own body - "You know... So that we can meet without having to wait for the weekend..."

\- "Hm..." - Raven grunted leaning on her elbows - "Do you want to make secret meetings here at school? Do you want to take risks?"

\- "And why not?" - He looked at her with a raised eyebrow

\- "Well, you are really _'I follow my rules with my eyes closed'_ with your rules..." - She bit her lip laughing - "I thought that would be one of your rules ... _'Don't be distracted at school'_..."- She said laughing , with a ridiculously thick voice

\- "I can't bear to spend the whole week so close and so far from you, Raven... And... Nobody comes here..."

\- "Except couples who want to make out and people who want to smoke cigarettes..." - She grunted laughing

\- "How do you know that?"

\- "Look, I'm a friend of Rose... There is no place in this school where she hasn't boasted about having sex... Or bought a cigarette... Or both..."

\- "Ew... Gross..."

\- "Yes..." - She laughed - "And how did you know about this place?"

\- "I met Emiko here once..."

\- "Ah... Of course..."

\- "Hey ... That's not how you're thinking..."

\- "I didn't say anything..." - Raven bit her lip - "And I don't care who you met under the bleachers before me either..."

\- "I didn't meet anyone under the bleachers before you... I mean, I found Emiko... But I just wanted to get a story straight... That's when she told me to invite you to the dance... She said that if I didn't, she would... Emiko Queen is a friend... She and Kent know me from before this school..."

\- "Hey... You don't need to explain, Damian..." - Raven smiled rolling her eyes

\- "I'm not giving explanations... I'm just... I'm making it clear..."

\- "Giving explanations..." - She smiled - "Anyway..." - She leaned her head on his shoulder

\- "Whatever, okay? I just... I think we could have a meeting place... Our meeting place" - He took a deep breath, looking at her - "So I wouldn't have to wait for the weekend so I could have you as my girlfriend... Look... 3 weeks seeing you from a distance and not being able to kiss you and having to hear Logan flirt with you or talk about the buttons on your shirt when I know he's talking about... about..." - He looked away - "About your body makes me crazy... I don't want to have you every 3 weekends, Raven... I want to kiss you when no one is looking and I want to laugh with you and this stupid stuff... And I think we have one our own place, hidden from everyone, it wouldn't be wrong... We would keep things secret as we agreed and... We could be together during the week for some hours too..."

\- "Well..." - She took a deep breath - "I can't skip all my classes just to come spend time with my boyfriend here..." - She looked up at him - "But... I agree that we need a secret place... It won't work if we meet only on weekends... I think we can meet here from time to time..." - Raven took a deep breath and sat on top of her leg, adjusting her skirt on her thighs... She hated the fact that she had to wear skirts... It wasn't appropriate - "I know I'm asking a lot for us to keep this a secret, and that Gar's comments are... _disgusting_... But I just don't I want to screw this up, okay? I just... I need to make sure we're on the right track..." - She raised her eyebrow, looking at him as she waited for him to understand her.

Raven knew what her life would become the moment she was _"Wayne's girlfriend"_. She had tasted a little bit of it with all those looks on her at the prom and she didn't know how much it would affect her and their recent relationship... It had only been 3 weeks since she heard him say he loved her, she didn't was sure they were on the right track and I was afraid of making mistakes.

And god knows how difficult it was for her to see him too and not be able to have him. She felt like she still hadn't said everything to him and that their relationship was like two friends who occasionally said they loved each other hidden from others... She wanted his kisses and just having him holding her hand when they walked down the hall or the good morning kisses in the lockers before classes started and that afternoon was being like a dream that she always dreamed of him where they were just a couple of teenagers being teenagers ...

No big names, or big dramas, or bigger things to worry about...

She knew they needed a place and needed to see each other or that ship was going to sink completely.

\- "You're not asking too much, Raven... I also think it was right for us to keep this between us for now... I... I know what it means to be seen with me... I fucking know... I just... I think we need a place where we can be just the two of us together... And no one comes here, you know... We spent days and days coming to eat peanut sandwiches in these bleachers...

\- "We can send text messages then... When we meet... And leave separately... Rose will end up suspecting one time or another and gods... Rose won't let me live..."

Damian almost swallowed, strangely Jon hadn't heard anything and if he did, he didn't comment on... That damn super hearing of him could be a problem that Damian intended to avoid. Damian pushed the concern, Jon was probably too busy drooling over the new girl, someone by the name of _Imra Ardeen_ or something... Apparently, she was a Superman protégé and came from another time, the Justice League thought it would be good to socialize with girls her age while figuring out how to send her back to the 31st century.

For Damian and Jon, she was a time-traveling telepathFor the rest of the people at that school, an exchange student who was staying at the Kent home.

And of course, Jon was drooling and blushing every time she showed up with her short hair as blond as the sun, too preoccupied with controlling her own powers around her, Damian still remembered when Jon called him talking about x-ray vision and problems in control her.

He didn't have to worry about Jon and his _"super"_ powers.

\- "So... This is a yes?"

\- "Yes..." - Raven smiled, bending over to give Damian a kiss - "That's a yes... We can meet here from time to time..."

\- "I love you, you know?" - He grunted, pulling her onto his lap with a little scream from Raven before kissing her properly.

Damian agreed with Raven about meeting there during extra-curricular classes. It was written in many and she had not returned to classes in the infirmary yet... To the sincerity of all, Raven was tired of learning only first aid, she already knew a little more than that living with her aunt.

After discussing a little more about how they could always be there and about codes they could use in the messages they exchanged, they decided it was time to go back to the corridors or else, everyone would really start to suspect both of them being missing so much time.

Raven gave Damian a quick kiss before adjusting her skirt and button blouse, and getting ready to leave. They had just kissed all the time and sat down to read books, but Raven was a mess because of the tickle attack he had done on her and she never felt that skirt covered enough.

She always straightened it, especially when she was too nervous...

She tied her hair with a hair band and prepared to leave first than Damian only to have him pull her by the arm again and kiss her as if he depended on it for a living. At certain times, Raven really thought she needed those kisses to live.

He always gave her waist a light squeeze and his hands tangled in her hair and it always made her legs almost sag. Was it so... hot? He left her breathless and feeling weak and before letting her go, he took a light bite of her bottom lip. Raven could almost feel a heat burn through her body like the night they kissed in the library.

No one would ever know that effect Damian had on her...

\- "See you at dinner, _beloved_..." - Damian growled with his eyes closed, a few inches away from her. Raven had lost her voice, was doing her best to push that heat to the bottom of her being so she just nodded, slowly nodding her head before staggering back.

Wait, did he call her _'beloved'_?

When she was less of a hot mess, she would ask him about it.

Damian picked up the book and bag on the floor and put it on his shoulder before taking Raven's hand and the two of them stepping out under that big flag with the image of the sea lion. And walk the same path as before, letting go of their hands with a smile and a blush as they approached the schoolyard, now crowded with students walking to the last classes.

They met on the other days almost always at the same time under the bleachers, each time they left, with the feeling of wanting to go back there again and Damian began to consider what to do over the weekend. It was already Friday and his father had said nothing about him having to go back to Gotham and Tim was stuck in college things on campus... He would spend the weekend practically alone in the penthouse and that could mean spending quality time doing something stupid with Raven.

When they left their secret location that Friday afternoon, Damian wondered how to invite her to it without sounding like he was inviting her with ulterior motives and pledged to think about it until the time they went home. Damian watched her disappear into the corridor of lockers full of students changing classes, already feeling the emptiness reach his chest after spending considerably long time with her lying under his chest. Raven went to literature class and Damian was forced to stay away again, dragging himself to English class. Damian grunted when he saw that Jon was sitting in the chair opposite his, with the same bright smile as always, as if life was always a happy day...

Or as if he knew something.

Damian would have to watch him spend the entire class drooling over Imra, even though he was in a great mood for having spent the past two and a half hours kissing Raven's lips, he thought he would never have enough of a good mood to see Jon melt for a girl... It was like he was 10 times more clumsy and silly.

When the class started and Koriand'r told them it was a pair activity, Jon promptly dragged himself to pair with Damian, leaving no room for any other girl to show up in line about who would be the lucky one. Damian was mentally grateful for that, but he felt something coming from Jon.

It was like he knew something that Damian didn't know...

Damian just shook his head and started to sort out the activity questions planning to focus on the lesson when the sound of Raven's voice filled the room and he saw her walk divinely to Koriand'r's desk asking for something related to the stupid literature class in that she was. Damian's eyes followed all the way she did and he felt his chest fill and almost explode when her eyes met his and she smiled, biting her bottom lip before taking a bunch of books from the teacher and leaving the same way she had done when she entered.

Damian watched for a few seconds as she disappeared before sighing and turning his attention to the activity, doing his best to concentrate on the lesson again.

\- "Okay, enough..."

\- "What, idiot?" - Damian grunted without taking his eyes off the paper as he wrote the answer to the question.

\- "When did you plan to tell me?"

\- "Tell you what?"

\- "That you finally have a girlfriend?"

\- "What? - Damian looked up from the paper so quickly he felt a pain in his eyelids - "I don't have a girlfriend...!"

\- "Are you kidding me, Dami?" - Jon had a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his lips, looking genuinely happy for his friend.

\- "I'm not kidding you, Kent..." - Damian rolled his eyes - "I don't have a girlfriend... I don't know where you got it from..."

\- "Don't make a fool of yourself, Damian... You know I know more than anyone here about you and Ra-"

\- "Shut up..."

\- "Okay..." - Jon shrugged - "Just... I thought i was your friend... I didn't want to find out by hearing grunts while you both kissed... Not to mention you holding hands under the tables... fast heartbeat... I hear it all and see it all..." - Jon rolled his eyes - "Did you think you could hide it from me?"

\- "That's none of your business..." - Damian took a deep breath

\- "It's none of my business... But I'm your friend... And I would like to know about you before I have to hear you changing saliva... This super hearing is a curse sometimes, you know?"

\- "Can you stop talking about it, Kent?" - Damian grunted between his teeth, looking around to see if anyone was paying attention to what they said. But everyone was chasing after any point in Damian's ex-sister-in-law's class and didn't seem to care about the whispers between the two boys - "Rav-_She_ and I thought it best to keep it a secret... At least for now..."

\- "Okay... Whoever spoke is not here anymore" - Jon raised his hands in surrender - "I knew you were going to be together, from the beginning... From the pinpricks at the student union meetings..."

\- "Do you want a microphone, idiot?"

\- "No, I don't want... I'm just saying that I knew you were going to be together... I could hear how your heart was racing since the first time you saw her, it was in a... geometry class? I think it was..." - Jon shrugged - "Dad said you were like your father, anyway..."

\- "What do you mean _'like my father'_?"

\- "Fall in love with some woman who would kick your ass..."

\- "Why does everyone say that? Your father, Jason, Emiko..."

\- "Well... Because it's the truth... You are not interested in the basics... You are always interested in the difficult, the challenge"

\- "No, it's not true..." - Damian grunted making notes on the sheet, without having to look at Jon to know that the boy was rolling his eyes at Damian's denials - "She and I... We just approached after what happened at the school fair and... A mutual admiration grew between the two of us"

\- "Is that what you call _'sexual tension'_?" - Damian looked up from the leaves to Jon with his mouth open and then closed it again, reflecting on what he really wanted to do at that moment, hitting Jon's head on the table would attract attention to the subject - "What? It's not like everyone here doesn't talk about it between you two... Super hearing, remember?"

\- "Shut up, Jonathan..." - Damian grunted - "This is really none of your business... And I already said that she wants to keep it a secret for now, but if you keep chattering about it, everyone will know until the end of class..."

\- "Do you skip class together and really think no one will suspect?"

\- "We hadn't thought about it yet..."

\- "Well... Now you can think..."

\- "That doesn't mean you have to be acting like a little gossip girl wanting to know details..."

\- "I don't want to know details... I just wanted to know when you were going to hide it from your best friend... And only friend, probably..."

\- "Don't be exaggerated..." - Damian rolled his eyes

\- "I'm not being exaggerated, Dami..." - Jon shrugged - "But... Since you finally decided to assume for your best friend that you have a girl, I think we could all go out together this weekend... We 4"

\- "We Four"?

\- "Yes..." - He smiled - "You and the... _Girl_... And me and Imra..."

\- "Since when are you and _"Imra"_ a couple, Kent?"

\- "It's not just you who has a new girl, Damian... You should know... I talked to you last weekend..."

\- "Ah... I didn't pay attention... If you don't remember, we were busy trying not to die on a mission"

\- "Yeah, I know... You were too worried about drooling over Raven's photos on Instagram..." - He laughed - "No... We're not dating like the two of you but... Yeah... It's a breakthrough..."

\- "What? Did you finally take the courage to hold her hand? Or did you offer her an ear of corn as a dating request?"

\- "No, Dami... An afternoon at the lake can be more romantic than you, big city boy, can imagine... And I don't need to be hiding under stands to kiss my girl..."

\- "I already told you that my name is not "Dami"...

\- "And I don't care..."

\- "What are you going to do when Imra has to go back to the future?"

\- "I... I haven't thought about it yet, okay?" - Jon shrugged - "Maybe she won't..."

\- "You know she will..."

\- "I don't want to think about it, you spoil it, maybe is just a summer love... Relax, okay?... I'm saying that we can have a couples meeting and that it will be fun..."

\- "Raven will not want... And I already have something to do on the weekend..."

\- "I'm not suggesting, _Dami_..." - Jon crossed his arms with a malicious smile on his lips

\- "Are you blackmailing me?"

\- "Yes..."

\- "And Raven too?"

\- "No... Raven is cool... I would never blackmail a nice girl... But a friend who hides a girlfriend from me, for sure..."

\- "You idiot, if you do something, she too ends up hit too..."

\- "I... I didn't say I would do anything..."

\- "So it's not a blackmail..."

\- "Whatever, okay?" - Jon grunted nervously - "It's just that I think it would be cool and... Imra would make one more friend here and... Ah Dami... What is important to do over the weekend in San Francisco? Your father is in space with my father, your brothers are in Gotham and haven't called anyone... Unless you and Raven are going... Oh... OH!" - Jon's eyes were wide, his white cheeks visibly red.

\- "What? No!" - Damian almost screamed, attracting all the eyes of the classroom to both of them, he took a deep breath and swallowed - "No... It's not that... It's nothing like you're thinking..." - he grunted between his teeth when his eyes returned to the activity, looking more concerned with the points than with Damian's screams with Jon ... It was common when the two worked together - "I just... I was thinking about spending time alone with her... But... Not for that..."

\- "Oh really?"

\- "Oh really..."

\- "So... You're sure you are not planning to go to... You know... The second stage...? You know... The action of making babies but without the part of actually having babies?"

\- "What? N-No! Oh gods..." - Damian's eyes were wide - "No, of course not... We... We've only been together for 3 weeks... That's not it... I don't think about doing... doing this... With her..."

\- "So you don't think about going to the second stage with her...? Never? Is it that your mother told you that sex is only for reproduction and such? Because I mentioned this to my mother and she said that your mother raised you as if you were a calf, a... How did she say? Ah! Like a breeding stallion... Just to breed other stallions"

\- "What? You...? Jonathan Kent!"

\- "What?"

\- "No... Oh fuck..." - Damian raised an eyebrow enough that she almost touched the base of his hair. He expected this kind of stupid conversation with Jason or Dick, maybe with Tim and Duke... In a very difficult and weird situation, with Cass or Steph but not with Jonathan aka his friend and teammate - "That's none of your business, okay? But... Of course I think about doing _‘that’_ with her one day... But not now, not this Saturday... And wait... I can’t believe you mentioned this to your mother!"

\- "I comment absolutely everything with my mom, Damian... You would hate to face the fury of Lois Lane Kent..." - Jon shook his head, feeling a shiver go up his spine... His mother was something to worry about think about when it came to _'secrets'_... A Pulitzer winner and the best investigative journalist? Jon definitely couldn't hide anything from her ... not even Clark could hide anything from her.... - "Okay, since you are not going to the second stage and you are not planning _'Netflix and chills'_ with her to go to the second phase... So there will be no problem so if we mark the double date, right? We can buy some ice cream, make popcorn, get some blankets and watch some movies..." - Damian took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

Jon would never let that go.

Those were the things he wanted to do with just Raven that weekend...

He wanted to buy ice cream, make some popcorn and watch movies just and only with Raven... And have a unique and quality time with her in his arms, maybe to kiss her more than actually watching a movie.

But if Damian said he wanted to spend a day alone with Raven in the penthouse, Jon would definitely believe that Damian was talking about having sex with Raven... Damian had no problem thinking about it, but he also knew that he hadn't gotten to that point, if at any time they had sex, it would be something where Raven and he felt comfortable with it and he would make sure Raven was comfortable and ready for it... Not something that just happened because they were watching a movie 3 weeks after they started dating... It was fucking too soon... And that in Jon's mind was a problem, he would at some point comment with his father and it would reach Damian's father directly...

Damian had been avoiding talking about anything that was about girls or sex life, he knew that his father wouldn't spare him from an extremely embarrassing conversation.

But Damian knew that Raven would hate to know that someone else knew about them and they would have trouble explaining about super hearing and Jon. There, Raven only knew Jonathan Kent, the adorable boy who was Damian's longtime friend, not Jonathan Kent, the superboy and Robin's teammate.

Damian was cornered and he didn’t like to feel cornered

\- "Okay... Okay... Let's do this damn stupid double date..." - Damian grunted, tossing his pen on the paper - "But look... If anyone else finds out, I swear I'll leave you with the kryptonite necklace all day again, Jonathan... I'm not lying..."

\- "Yes!" - Jon smiled making a sign of exaggerated celebration for the almost silent conversation they had - "And look, it's not my fault if someone else finds out... You two are too stupid to be drooling over each other at school, never sit one away from each other in the cafeteria and are always disappearing together in class... Nobody in this school needs super hearing or x-ray vision to know that you are a couple... It surprises me that Rose has never caught you in the act these days since that you started skipping classes together..."

\- "Nobody can know, are you listening to me, Kent? I already warned you... Do your best to keep your mouth shut..."

\- "Okay... So, what can we do...?"

Damian shook his head, wanting a hole in the floor to open so that he could finally sink his head and not have to think about how to escape that conversation with Jon. On one hand, it was a good idea, so Raven wouldn't understand his invitation as if he were really planning to be alone at his house with her. But on the other hand, he knew it would take Raven a while to get comfortable with the idea of two more people knowing about them and he knew she would be away for a while...

And there went their third weekend going completely wrong. Was it really difficult to have a normal date with his girlfriend?

When the class ended, Damian was unable to meet with Raven until he saw her get into her aunt's car and drive home talking animatedly about something he couldn't hear. He wanted to tell her about Jon, make up something about Jon seeing the two of them go together or something, but before he reached her, she was already going home.

He would explain to her when he called that night.

When Damian called her after dinner and heard her laugh on the other end of the phone, he almost felt like he could see her there, sitting across from him in his room. They always spent a lot of time talking on the phone and Damian didn't even see the time go by when that happened, the conversation flowed naturally and that was good... When Damian suggested that they spend the afternoon together watching some horror movie, Raven almost agreed that instantly and Damian was concerned if he had explained to her that there would be an adult there. Usually he knew that she was apprehensive because of her trauma and she always shied away from ways to be alone with any boy that was, even if they had already been alone a few times.

It was strange that she said yes almost promptly.

They agreed that Raven would go after lunch and that Damian would take care of the popcorn... Raven was a terrible cook and she had already made that clear to him once when he had a broken rib... He didn't need another test...

When she hung up the phone after long hours of talking, claiming she was going to sleep because she was tired, Damian remembered that he hadn't told her about Jon and Imra also going to the penthouse for the afternoon. It was too late, Raven was probably already asleep and Damian didn't want to wake her up just to tell him.

He almost couldn't sleep because he was so apprehensive that he was spending an entire afternoon with Raven by his side, without having to pretend that he was just her classmate. He would be able to hold her hand and feel the electricity pass between their fingers and he would be able to kiss her without worrying if anyone would find out about them there or speak softly for fear of anyone listening.

He would still have to worry about Jon and Imra over there and maybe, Tim's sudden appearance at the end of the day, but still... It was better than being under the bleachers and just seeing her from afar all the way through the week in class. It would be their Saturday and nothing could spoil it.

Damian woke up at sunrise and practically expelled Tim from the penthouse, he didn't want to have to explain to his brother about who would get there, but with his insistence, he just said that they were about 3 friends for a school assignment.

He was getting good at telling lies because Tim just nodded and seemed to believe the story, smiling to see that his annoying brother had finally made friends to take home and do _"teen"_ stuff... In two years of living together in that penthouse, Damian never did group work, he always preferred to be alone.

At most, in the company of Jon or Emiko.

When Tim left (practically expelled by Damian), Damian ran to clean up the penthouse from Timothy Drake's mess. Damian was very organized with his room and his things, but Tim and his excessive mania to stay awake at night were a mess, Alfred always took bags and bags of pizza box from various corners of the room and the room when he went to the penthouse and Damian found himself doing the same...

There was a coffee mug almost behind the sofa....

Damian would rather face a thousand league soldiers than have to clean up Tim Drake's mess again, he would make a mental note to charge that to his brother when he returned.

Just before 1 pm the intercom rang, showing the divine image of Raven standing at the door with her hands in her jeans pocket and a small black backpack on her back. Her hair had been braided in two braids falling over her shoulder and she was wearing a simple, very comfortable T-shirt contrasting with the pale skin of her bare shoulder. Damian tripped when he ran to press the button and release her entrance, his heart beating fast against his chest as the elevator numbers changed to signal that she was alone ...

Gods, she had arrived before Jon ... Was that a good sign? Maybe, Lois didn't let Jon fly from Kansas to them... Maybe, in the end he wouldn't have to worry about having to explain to her about how Jon had found out about them... Not yet...

When the elevator door opened, Damian blew out a breath that he didn't know he was holding. He wasn't sure how to act with just her there, he planned and rehearsed that whole time and then, his mind went into a complete blank state. He hated it when it happened...

\- "Er... Did I arrive too soon?" - She grunted looking sideways, as if expecting something or someone leaving anywhere and running after her. It wasn't too hard for that to happen, Timothy had this habit of taking her by surprise and lifting her off the floor and Damian would be jealous whenever he did that...

Damian just didn't assume until then that it was jealous what he felt...

\- "Erm... No... You arrived just in time..." - He smiled, swaying on his heels before taking unsteady steps towards her. Raven watched carefully as he took one step at a time, cautiously, before she seemed to lose her little patience, rolled her eyes and walked up to him, pulling him into her arms for a loving hug.

Raven always made the decisions and Damian was starting to worry about it.

She buried her face in his neck and smiled when he came out of the initial shock when she kissed him on the shoulder, he smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist, breathing deeply against her shoulder, smelling the lavender coming from her. braid to inebriate any sense of it. It was automatic, it relaxed any thoughts he was overthinking.

She stood there embracing him in the silence of the penthouse for a few long seconds, before moving away from him a few inches and letting him capture her lips in a slow kiss that made Damian's heart beat like thunder in his chest. He would take his damn time to taste every drop of her lips and keep the impression of every inch of them in his mind. Time became insignificant for him and he cared nothing more than to take what he could from Raven's kisses...

Hell, she was his girlfriend... _He had a girlfriend_!

It was weird that he thought about it yet, he had never allowed himself to live it before. No, his mother had taken away any hope of ever loving anyone. For her, relationships were a waste of time and that of all his emotions, he should focus on just one to achieve his goals: _**Anger**_.

But now, he had Raven in his arms and he never wanted to let her again, he had the feeling that his chest would explode at any moment and those little moments they had together were all he wanted to focus on. She had taught him another way to feel and he appreciated it, he loved her and knew he was as strong as anything he had ever felt before.

It was as strong as anything he had dared to imagine feeling.

She distanced herself from him after a long time, her cheeks red and her eyes shining like the stars of a constellation. She was made of porcelain, modeled just to be his. He still found himself admiring every inch of her.

\- "Hm... Hi, Damian..."

\- "Hi Raven..." - He took a deep breath

\- "Hm..." - Her fingers played with the collar of his shirt - "Is there no one here? Tim? Conner...? _Cassie_...?" - She grimaced when saying the last name, she definitely didn't like Cassandra Sandsmark... Even after Damian undid all the confusion.

\- "Hm... No... There is no one here..." - Damian grunted - "Tim had to go to college to solve some things, only to return at the end of the day and... Sandsmark and Kent went to Kansas... Something with their farm... Something like that..."

\- "Ah..." - Damian felt her tense under his hands, as if something fell on her conclusion - "Got it..."

\- "But..." - Damian took a deep breath - "We will have company..."

\- "Company?"

\- "Jon..."

\- "Jon...? Jonathan Kent?"

\- "Erm... Yes..." - He took a deep breath, running a hand through his hair while holding Raven's hand and they walked towards the kitchen counter - "He ... He asked us to make a kind of stupid double date..."

\- "Double date? Wait... Does he know about us?"

\- "Yes..." - Damian grunted looking everywhere, except for Raven - "He... He found out and I couldn't undo..."

\- "Oh shit..."

\- "Relax... Jonathan will not tell anyone about us... I already guaranteed it... But... I don't even know if he will even come..." - The intercom rang again and Damian snorted, had spoken too soon, Jon appeared smiling on the screen, with his stupid black and square-rimmed glasses like his father's, holding the hand of a girl the same height as him, with golden hair - "Forget it... I'll explain later what happened , Okay?"

\- "Okay..." - Raven grunted, taking a deep breath.

Damian hurried over to the intercom, letting the couple of his friends in, watching Raven curl up on the bench as she seemed to start to look pensive and distant. Jon came in smiling like a big ray of sunlight and ran to give Raven a surprised and extremely strong hug, before hugging Damian.

He was too pure... Too much purity would end up hurting him one hour, Damian was tired of saying it to him before.

\- "Oh... This is so cool... We both have girlfriends at the same time!"

\- "It's... Cool..." - Damian growled dejectedly, looking at Raven watching them both in a strange way, as if she expected something to happen or as if she wanted to say something without knowing how to say it.

\- "So what are we going to do?"

\- "Well..." - Raven said timidly - "I thought about watching a horror movie that Damian said he wanted to watch..."

\- "Horror?" - Jon grunted despondently - "You know I'm terrified of horror movies, Dami..."

\- "You're terrified of anything, Kent..."

\- "No..."

\- "I hold your hand, Jonny" - Imra said with a shy smile on his lips and Damian rolled his eyes, walking towards the cupboards to prepare popcorn, 5 minutes and he could already feel the diabetes reaching his blood. Raven continued to watch Jon and Damian, trying to find a pattern that would tell her something about the two, as if she tried to find where she could step.

She watched Damian and Jon exchange secrets that she couldn't tell what it was and she honestly didn't know how to act to find out. She was still learning a lot about Damian and who was out of sight and she knew that Damian was as layered as an onion.

She wouldn't be surprised if her suspicions were correct... Why would they keep such a secret about the two of them if it wasn't for a relationship?

\- "Didn't you tell her about you both, Damian?" - Imra spoke as if reading everyone's mind there, scratching her head, a little confused.

\- "We have nothing to tell, Imra..."

\- "Oh..."

\- "So..." - Raven grunted looking at her hands - "How did you find out, Jon?" - She tilted her head to the side, and saw Damian turn quickly to look at Jon, eyes wide, as if screaming for him not to tell how he really found out.

\- "Hm... This is funny... Hmm..." - Jon looked quickly at Damian, then at Imra and then at Raven - "This really is funny... So... Hm... I... I was walking and... I saw you two... In the place where you always are... So... I pressed Dami and he told me..."

\- "Ah..." - Raven nodded slowly - "And... And are you okay with that?"

\- "And why wouldn't you be? I always cheered for you..."

\- "Well... Isn't it a little embarrassing that you go out with your ex's current girlfriend...?"

\- "EX?" - Damian and Jon answered together and Imra looked even more confused at the three people on the small kitchen counter

\- "Yeah... You had something super secret, right?" - Raven made a face - "No need to worry, I'm super okay with that, I'm bi too and... There's no reason why you should hide it if you're okay..."

\- "Wait, do you think Kent and I..." - Damian tilted his head to the side - "Wait... Are you bisexual?"

\- "Er... Yes... Do you have a problem with me being bisexual?" - Raven wrinkled her nose - "And... Damian... First Conner said you both had something and you didn't let him finish... Now, Imra said you didn't tell me about the two of you..."

\- "I have no problem with you being bisexual, Raven... My biggest problem here is you think..." - Damian shook his head

\- "Holy Molly protector of chicks..." - Jon grunted before bursting out laughing, his shoulders shaking as he gave a loud laugh, his head falling back - "Did you really think that Dami and I have something?"

\- "Definitely not..." - Damian grunted seriously - "No... Not at all..."

\- "Damian already had another _'best friend'_ when I arrived... I should ask Collin..."

\- "Collin?"

\- "NO!" - Damian shouted making Jon laugh even louder - "There is nothing here, I had nothing with Kent and I definitely had nothing with Collin... We are friends and we work together on something from our father... Nothing more... Gods! Stop putting shit on my girlfriend's head, Kent!"

\- "Awwn how cute are you saying _'my girlfriend'_, Dami..."

\- "Shut the fuck up, Jonathan..."

\- "Why are you angry, Dami?"

\- "Stop calling me Dami, I already said that my name is Damian..."

\- "So you are really just friends?" - Raven grunted looking at them

\- "Yes..." - The two responded together

\- "Sometimes I wish that not even friends..."

\- "Sorry Rae... I was just kidding you... Nobody ever managed to get through the concrete wall that he puts around his heart before you..."

\- "And how did you meet?"

\- "His father works with my father so... We have an extra curricular activity from time to time..." - Jon said controlling his laughter again

\- "Family matters... One day I... One day I will explain better to you..."

\- "Ah... That same fucking family matter and talking about codes like you were doing in Gotham? Got it..." - Raven grunted making a face - "If you didn't have anything or don't want to talk about it then, I'm okay with that..."

\- "Oh gods I'm going to kill that clone..."

\- "Can you imagine us as a couple, Dami?"

\- "Shut up, Kent..."

\- "Gods, you two are as if Batman and Superman had married and had twins..."

\- "This is genetically impossible, since-"

\- "Damian... It's a joke... A figure of speech..." - Raven grunted laughing again - "Hm... Hey, Imra... What do you think about going for a walk around the building? Believe me, they are a headache together..." - Raven grunted getting up from the bench, the girl seemed fascinated by their teasing, but Raven knew that it would become a headache soon...

And over the weekend at Wayne Manor, Raven had learned that it was better for you to do anything than to be in the middle of these provocations.

Imra didn't hesitate and followed Raven to where she was going, both talking about their respective boys while they both looked like kids in the kitchen, Damian almost lost patience with Jon at one point and the next, the blue-eyed boy almost knocked with a jar in Damian's forehead...

They were 17 years old but they behaved like children of 5...

They chose a horror movie, to the dismay and grunts of Jon and Raven learned in the worst way that watching horror movies with Damian was almost torture, he kept trying to find logic in events or calling some character an idiot . The times he wasn't commenting on the film, it was because Raven had shut him up somehow.

She had been learning ways to keep him shut and fill his mouth with popcorn or kisses were the options she used most... The other was to go into ignorance and just tell him to shut up.

And to be honest, Raven was extremely comfortable kissing Damian next to Jon, she didn't even remember what happened in much of the film, since she was always shutting Damian up somehow.

When the afternoon started to fall, Jon talked a lot with Raven about Damian while the boy had gone out to make more popcorn. Jon let Raven know how happy they were that she agreed to date him, and that Damian deserved a little love, since his life up to the age of 10 hadn't been easy and he was a bit of a stubborn when it came to feelings.

Raven learned a little more about Damian from what Jon had told her, about how he always tried to prove himself to his father and how often, Damian had to control his violent side to protect himself from other guys in high school... Raven also discovered that half of the fights he had gotten into was because of her...

Raven was surprised to learn that long before they spoke, when they actually hated each other, Damian tried to protect her in some way...

She couldn't help but smile, he was an enchanted prince from the stupid teenage fairy tales of her life.

He said that Damian could seem obscure and mysterious and that there were things that she would need him to explain to her and that she would need to have an open heart to accept these things, but that it was okay if she didn't accept because, Damian's past had many shadows that she would need to learn over time to swallow and help himself to forgive himself and Raven wondered what it was, but before she verbalized the question to Jon, he said it was something she would have to find out with Damian and that she knew that he was waiting for the right moment to open up to her.

Raven took a deep breath and nodded, she knew that Damian had many things yet to tell her and she knew it was connected to those scars he had and also knew it was related to his family that she never heard about, about his mother and his grandfather who had died when he was still a child.

She wondered what it could be and why he would need to forgive himself... But then he pushed the curiosity and the voices in her mind to the background again, when Damian felt ready to speak, he would open up to her.

Jon was a good friend, purer than Rose and certainly, better with words than her friend with silver hair, but with the same heart of gold and a single concern: Their happiness. He made her promise that if things didn't go well, she would end it all before breaking Damian's heart at once...

Raven made that promise more than to herself, promising to herself that she wouldn't let either her heart or Damian's heart be made of toys... She hoped that Damian had the same promise for himself.

When Jon and Imra left saying that they should do this more often and that Damian had to take her to Kansas one day, the sun had already gone down almost completely sending the night's shadow over the San Francisco horizon. Raven needed to go home too, soon her aunt would start calling her over and over and it would be too late, but she still didn't want to go.

No, she wanted to stay a little longer, watching the bay through the window and slowly digesting everything that had happened that afternoon. Two more people knew about them and although she was afraid of what it would take, she saw no problem with having Jon around. He was attentive to her and it was cute to see him and Imra as bewildered as Raven and Damian. Both couples undid any embarrassment as the film was shot on the huge screen that Damian had in the room.

She was also wondering how Jon would get home, they would take a day trip to Kansas... She started to wonder if he made this trip every weekend or if he just stayed somewhere over there... He and Damian had so many secrets that she didn't know that at times, Raven felt like she was just on the tip of an iceberg.

She was absorbed in her thoughts and hardly noticed Damian hugging her from behind, fitting his head in the space of her shoulder and her neck, placing a kiss on her collarbone.

\- "Your skin is cold..." - He grunted breaking the silence - Are you cold?"

\- "A little..." - Raven grunted running her hands on her arms as if to warm up

\- "I'll get a hoodie of mine for you to wear..." - He grunted tightening his arms around her as if to warm her.

\- "I should go home..." - Raven grunted with a smile as she felt his lips against her skin again. They were alone in the silence of the penthouse again, it was a comfortable silence between them, the daylight dying out as they watched the movement of the water and the lights going on in the city.

_He had a damn view over there_...

\- "Should?"

\- "Yes... Aunt Alice will call like crazy soon and want to know who I am with, what time I'll be back, when I'll back..."

\- "I could talk to her..." - He took a deep breath and used his hands around her waist to make her spin - "Tell her that the future CEO of Wayne companies needs the intelligence and charisma of her niece for the weekend in Gotham City..."

\- "And she would send the police after you, Damian..." - She laughed rolling her eyes - "By the way... Is this an invitation to another weekend with your family?"

\- "This is an invitation to another weekend with me, your boyfriend, in Gotham City... My family is a consequence..." - He smiled, kissing the tip of her nose - "Alfred keeps talking about your passion for his teas , anyway..."

\- "Hm... I will check my availability on my agenda, _future CEO of Wayne Companies_..."

\- "And your boyfriend..."

\- "And my boyfriend..." - Raven smiled, feeling her chest swell every time those words came out of her mouth. He pulled her into a kiss, never tired of tasting her lips on the tip of his tongue. 3 weeks later and he still felt like the first time he kissed her, in that room.

The kiss started out slow and calm, Damian making a mental note of every taste he could catch on her lips, before his fingers slid into his hair, gently pulling him even closer. Damian took it like a shock in every cell of his body and without him thinking straight, the kiss became too intense, his hands tightened tightly against Raven's waist and he found himself pushing her against the kitchen counter, his hands suddenly were completely in her and the air seemed thin.

He no longer knew where his tongue started or where Raven's mouth ended.

He was just sure he didn't want to stop anytime soon, he wanted to taste more of her, every drop of honey she had on his lips and every thing she wanted to let him taste. Her hands went down to his chest, spread on his shoulder blades and then, slid down his arm, sliding along the marks of his muscle, until she reached to hold his hand and interlace their fingers.

Damian felt like everything was on fire, it was like he was enveloped in hellish flames and gods, he didn't want it to stop.

There was nothing to stop him, just Tim Drake opening the elevator door and making Damian take 5 steps back, completely disconcerted.

Damian looked at Raven leaning on the counter, messy and dizzy, her eyes blinking trying to understand what had happened between them, her lips swollen and her cheeks as red as a ripe tomato. He swallowed, going over what had happened in his mind, trying to find the error...

It was too hot a kiss for him to think straight, he still needed to assess the damage to him.

Tim looked at them both as if trying to make sense of the scene.

He read Raven's expressions and how many times Damian looked at her or ran his hand through his hair and then just shook his head with a smile, said hello to Raven and started walking towards the rooms, leaving them alone again.

With a look of shock and a heavy silence between them.

It wasn't the first time that a kiss had gotten that intense, but it was the first time that maybe they had a real intention of seeing where that kiss would take them. One of the times they kissed like that, Damian thought of several ways to take her with his fingers between the dark shelves at the back of the library.

And gods, he thought of many ways to take her when they kissed at the Queen's pool, at the charity ball.

\- "Hm..." - She took a deep breath

\- "I'll... I'll get the hoodie for you..."

\- "Okay..." - She nodded slowly - "Can I... Can I use the phone to call a taxi?"

\- "I'll take you..." - Damian grunted already walking towards the rooms.

\- "Okay..." - Raven growled, letting her head fall heavily against her hands as she tried to find where she really was.

In the bedroom, Tim Drake quickly typed the mansion's phone number. He might be crazy, but what he saw quickly fall apart as the elevator doors opened seemed a lot like a kiss and the suspicions that Damian had a girlfriend were getting bigger and bigger. Everyone at the mansion had been suspicious since the charity ball, but Tim's suspicions were becoming more and more certain when the New Year's party came and the two spent a long and considerable time upstairs in the penthouse, alone.

And Damian calling her every weekend, expensive gifts and now, his best effort to be alone with her at home... Tim didn't even care that Damian was taking the car to drive, he urgently needed someone at the mansion to answer the phone.

When the car where Damian and Raven were disappeared over the horizon, the call on the other side finally seemed to reach someone.

\- "Wayne Mansion, Alfred Pennyworth speaking..."

\- "Hey Al is Timmy here..." - Tim said smiling from ear to ear - "Prepare the talk with old B... Damian has a girlfriend and you will love to know who she is..."

\- "DAMIAN HAS A GIRLFRIEND?" - Dick and Jason's voice came from the back of the phone. Tim swallowed, instinctively placing his hand on his neck.

_Damian was going to kill him_.


End file.
